Halo: In the Hands of the Enemy
by mchmstr39
Summary: When a recovery mission goes wrong on Terra II the UNSC and the remaining Spartans must race against time while one of their own fights against them and brings forth an ancient power which could destroy both the Covenant and the Humans. Finished!
1. Terra II

Chapter 1: Terra II

Former Human Colony Terra II, Hydracordatus system, Rendezvous with crashed Longsword fighter squadron in progress…

            The metallic silver a Pelican drop ship poked through dense snow filled clouds of Terra II. Sitting restlessly in the passenger compartment were ten Helljumpers and the Master Chief. When Terra II was glassed 15 years earlier it immediately plunged into a nuclear winter that would most likely never end. All of the humans, including the Chief, were in the whites and grays of arctic camouflage, except for the chain gunner, standing at the compartment opening, who swung back and forth nervously, more comfortable in a frigate then a drop ship.

"_Landing in 1 minute," _Called of the pilot over the ships intercom.Some of the Helljumpers checked their rifles and pistols for anything that would delay them that minuscule second determining life or death. 

"_Master Chief, I'm getting faint life signs about 5 klicks away from here, that could be the crashed Longsword squadron."_

"Lets hope that's them, but that means that they were off course," he didn't stop speaking even though Cortana butted in, " Even in this weather their navigation would have told them that they were off course."

"_True, but we have to assume a worse case scenario, could have been anything from a short in the fiber optics, to a large scale EMP."_

"If it were an EMP then we wouldn't have picked up their homing beacons." The two could have gone on for hours but a jolt made them stop.

"_Sorry about that, looks like we're getting some turbulence off the mountains, it's gonna be bumpy till we land_," chimed in the pilot. The Master Chief started to get butterflies in his stomach, something that rarely happened, except when flying. He didn't trust the fact that his life depended on a person who was flying something, made by another person who could've made a mistake. Thankfully Cortana knew when to shut up and not taunt him about his uneasiness. There were more jolts causing the Master Chief, and a few others, to grip their seats.

_"Landing in 5…4…3…2…pile out!" _The Pelican set down and within seconds the marines were outside getting away from the metal behemoth. The Marines got in a defensive perimeter as the Pelican powered up it's engines. Some of the marines showed obvious discomfort towards the roar that was steadily getting louder. The rear engines were pointed straight down, melting the snow at an alarming rate as white flames licked at the ground. Then, as it almost looked like it would never take off the Pelican jumped into the air and roared into the thick clouds. 

"Okay, form up," called out the Helljumper corporal, "Cortana? Where did you say the life signs were?"

"About five klicks to the north," she replied through the Spartan's speakers. The corporal turned to face north and was rewarded with a large mountain range locked in clouds.

"Dammit, we can't climb those," chimed in another Helljumper. 

"Shut it, we need to get there as soon as possible. There are no other ways Cortana?" The Master Chief was being very quiet until he could gain the trust of the Helljumpers; they were still leery of him. 

"Who said we had to go over? There is a mine that goes under the mountain chain. When we get to a vent tunnel in the middle of the mine we'll leave then, but this will be the hardest part; getting across this plain. There is almost no cover from any attack-." 

At this the Master Chief spoke up, "I thought there were no Covenant forces on Terra."

"Well-uh-it's just for precaution," stammered Cortana.

"Don't give me that Cortana, if there were no enemies in the area you wouldn't have suggested that."

"_That's not true and you know it," _Cortana said, only talking to John, "_You know that it could be dangerous anywhere we could be and cover is always something nice to have around." _The Spartan had no come back and they both knew it, cover was an important element in combat.

"True, sorry, it seemed like you were hiding something from us."

"_I'm dependant on you for the time being, I wouldn't sabotage our chances of survival for any reason."_

"If you're done over there I'd like to get as much distance from this area, 'cause if there _are_ any Covenant in the area, that Pelican was like a welcome mat to them," stated the Corporal. The Spartan nodded in acknowledgement and fell in line with the Helljumpers who were trudging through the foot deep snow.

            It took about two days of almost non-stop marching to reach the foothills of the mountains. The eleven soldiers reached the summit of a small hill and saw the mineshaft a hundred yards in front of them. The snow that had been falling was steadily picking up, covering their tracks within an hour. 

"We need to get inside the mine as soon as possible, this weather is going to hell," said the Corporal.

"Agreed, I could probably get the power on, but if not we'll have to use flashlights," replied Cortana. At that the group started towards the mine entrance." 

"Cortana, if this used to be a colony why haven't we seen any buildings or sign of the colonists?" said John to Cortana directly. 

"_ This part of the planet was very geologically active at the time and wasn't safe for hive colonies. But some expeditions revealed that there were abundant natural resources; so they sent mining teams to come and mine the area." _

"Makes sense, but I don't even see living areas for the miners."

"_ It was automated, the human miners only came to set up the equipment then left." _The Spartan just made a grunt of understanding and went back to concentrating on the mine in front of him. Within a minute the group had arrived at the entrance and were looking around cautiously. The mine entrance was at least thirty-five feet tall and fifty feet wide with a slow curve near the top. It was covered in metal plating to prevent cave-ins, but from the ages of neglect they were rusting and falling off.

"_I don't see any kind of maintenance port nor any power readings from some kind of generator, we're gonna have to do this ourselves."_

"Corporal, we're not going to get any power for the shaft, tell your men to get their flashlights out," said Cortana to the squad leader.

" Right, you five," he said pointing to a group of Helljumpers, "you're using your lights first, the rest of us will take over as they recharge. Got it? Good, lets go." 


	2. You Lied

Chapter 2: You Lied

Unknown mine shaft in Terra II, Rendezvous with crashed Longsword squadron in progress…

The Master Chief forced all the strength he had into his arms as he struggled to move the heavy titanium lid off the top of the vent shaft. He was standing on a small ledge that only had enough room for the small band of soldiers, if he slipped, there was at least a hundred feet of darkness awaiting him. Pushing the last of his strength in to his arms the lid started to open up, inch by inch.

" You…could…help…" He said, struggling.

"Okay pair up, you keep your partner steady." The Corporal never mentioned for someone to steady him, probably for the better. His Mark VI armor would be too heavy for a normal person. The Helljumpers got near the sliver of light and started to push. Even though they probably didn't know it, they took some of the load off the Spartan, enough for him to get gravity on his side. Cortana had said that the lid was at an angle and, if pushed hard enough, would slide downhill. The sliver of light started to grow larger and larger. Then, in a final push, the Chief lunged as far as he could and sent it down the slopes. Immediately snow started to slide in over their heads; quickly making the ledge very slick. 

"I'll go first," said the Chief. He turned around and got a good look at the ledge. The snow was just coming in too fast for him to get a good grip. He made the decision to jump the fifteen-foot gap to the other side. The Helljumpers looked at him as he moved to the wall of the ledge and rock back and forth. Right as he was about to jump Cortana butted in.

"_ Remove your weapons, it'll make you lighter."_

"Thanks. Here take these," he said to a marine next to him. John handed the marine his Battle rifle, pistol, grenades, and extra ammo. He readied himself again and started to sprint, he had, at most, eight feet of room to run. Five of which he covered in two steps. The ledge came and he lunged forward, stretching his body out. Floating over the abyss he felt like he wasn't going to make it, he thought that he hadn't gotten enough speed. Then his hands latched onto the ledge and tightened. He quickly lifted himself up and out onto the mountaintop. He looked around and was amazed. The mountain was at least 15,000 feet tall judging from the dense clouds covering the mountain just about a hundred feet up. It was snowing heavily, obscuring the rest of the mountain beyond two hundred feet.

"You gonna get us?" Called out the Corporal.

"Yeah, just checking the surroundings," he replied. The Chief came to the lip over the small ledge that he had just been on. He reached down for the closest soldier and pulled him up with one arm. The Corporal was the last man to come up after handing him his equipment. 

"Cortana, where are the life signs?" asked the Spartan.

" About three hundred feet up the glacier," she broadcast to everyone, " There is a small bowl up there." The glacier wasn't very steep but the weather made it almost impossible. They were walking through pea soup clouds making visibility almost zero. Every once and a while the motion detector would show someone wandering off so they would stop and the Chief go help them. Then they reached the bowl. It was one of the spookiest places the Chief had ever been to. Surrounding it were jagged black rocks that curled in towards the center. But even spookier was what was inside of it. Five Longswords were crashed there. Two seemed to have made a somewhat smooth landing near the middle, pointing towards the summit, seemingly undamaged. Two others were on their sides near the monolithic like rocks surrounding the outside. These were heavily damaged; both were missing one of their wings, tail fins and large chunks of their fuselage. The last Longsword was directly across from the party and was the heaviest damaged, as it was lodged in the middle of the large rocks on the other side. The Chief then realized what had happened to it. The Longsword coming in, destroying the rocks and the continued to its final resting place caused the opening they were standing in.

" It's weird how they landed, they're in a V," said a Helljumper behind the Chief.

"Well, lets go look for survivors," ordered the Corporal. At that the marines started to walk towards the wreckage of the crashed fighters. The Chief went to the Longsword directly to the right of him. He walked around the fighter looking for anything on the outside first. After clearing the outside he started to venture inside. The Longsword seemed to have been stripped clean, computer screens were broken, wires were torn out, and the nav computer had been smashed. Even with a crash that hard these items wouldn't have looked like that. But something was weird also; there weren't any bodies, even those of the crewmen who might have died in the crash. He hurried outside and noticed the others looking as confused as he was.

"I don't have any bodies," called out a Helljumper.

"Neither do I," replied another.

"Maybe they moved out of the bowl. There's probably a cave somewhere around here," suggested yet another.

"We don't have time to speculate, the weather's going downhill fast," said the Corporal. The Chief hadn't noticed it but he was right. The wind was picking up and the snow was falling even heavier. 

"_UNSC Frigate Claire Ann… UNSC Frigate Claire Ann. Recovery team Alpha reporting to the UNSC Frigate Claire Ann."_

"Nobody home? Could be some geological activity," stated the Chief.

"_No, they should be right above us. No, something's wrong, even with geological hindrances there would at least be static. There was nothing, like I was on the wrong com channel,"_ she cut him off before he could suggest that as an error, "_I was on a locked com channel, they would've been able to hear us the whole time." _

"Okay, what should we do?" She didn't answer.

"AHHHH!!! OH MY GOD!!! COME HERE!!!" The Chief swung around and saw a Helljumper drop his gun and slowly walk backwards. He hurried over and was horrified at what he saw. Buried in the snow were frozen humans all missing their heads. But they weren't cleanly cut off; plasma burns scorched the necks. 

"Jesus Christ, that's not caused by any crash. These men were executed," John said, almost in a trance, but he snapped out of it, "C'mon. We need to get out of here! Hurry!" But it was too late. Red dots started popping up on his motion tracker. He looked around and saw Elites appearing out of thin air, slowly closing in on the humans. But the Spartan would not go down without a fight. 

"Get to the Longswords for cover!" yelled out the Corporal. Some of the Helljumpers followed his orders but others stood frozen by the graves. The Chief lowered his Battle Rifle on the Elite behind him and started to fire. The 7.62mm slugs hit the Elites shield near his head throwing his head back from the impact. Regaining his senses the Elite prepared to fire but was too late as the Spartan threw himself into the alien, forcing him to the ground. But all hell had broken loose. The rattling and loud bangs of assault rifles and battle rifles tore through the relative quietness of the mountain, but the Elites immediately returned fire, scorching the makeshift cover the Helljumpers had taken advantage of. The Chief got up faster then the Elite and threw an armored boot into the Elites chest, blowing his shields out and anything else inside his chest cavity. He aimed his rifle at the Elites forehead and put a three round burst into the armored skull, the Elites brain matter spraying out onto the snow. But the Master Chief wasn't done. He crouched down behind a nearby rock and started to take aim at the Elites whose shields were flaring up. One Elite took two rounds in the neck and collapsed to the ground, purple blood covering his comrades and surrounding snow. He killed two more through headshots before he was spotted. Blue plasma bolts splashed against the rock slowly breaking it apart with every shot.

"Cortana, I need to ask you to do something I never thought I'd have to ask you. Please place your self-deletion protocol on standby. I want you to be gone within ten seconds of me dieing."

I'm already ahead of you, within ten seconds I will self-delete and start your suit's self-destruction sequence. How long will the timer be?"

"One minute," he replied, "I want to take as many as possible out with it." But he didn't have time to think about his demise for he heard something unwanted, the deep humming of a Covenant drop ship.

"Cortana, you lied, you said that there were no Covenant on Terra II."

"_I wasn't allowed to due to ONI directive1798-2. I'm sorry Master Chief." _

 


	3. In the Hands of the Enemy

Chapter 3: Defeated 

                       Terra II, Hydracordatus system, Covenant Kill zone, Enemy engagement in progress…  

            The hum of the Covenant drop ship steadily grew louder, for a while it sounded like it turned around but it was just circling the kill zone before it came roaring over the Master Chief strafing the Longsword carcasses and the Helljumpers inside them. Jumping up the Master Chief hurried down towards the drop ship that was to his left. He grabbed a fragmentation grenade from his belt and primed it. In the heavy snow he could still see the pulsating lights along the holding compartments and tri- barreled turret under the main cockpit. The Spartan got within fifteen feet when the doors opened up revealing creatures that he feared. Brutes. But these weren't in the normal purple armor that he'd seen them in. These were in a metallic black that shimmered even in the horrible conditions. Once all of the Brutes were unloaded he tossed the frag grenade into the middle of the group. It landed right were he wanted it to. _Three…two…one… _He counted to himself. Then there was a teeth-rattling explosion. He jumped up and saw that two had been blown in half, their purple entrails everywhere, one had lost its arm and the others had been hit with shrapnel. 

"Tough bastards," whispered John. But before he could throw another grenade the Brutes started to rush towards the marines, unemotional about there fallen brethren. There were about ten Brutes left after the grenade and every single one of them rushed past the crouched Spartan with their grenade launchers and large scythes. But one didn't miss the hidden human. He let out a few barks and turned around. The Brute didn't shoot but instead charged with his scythe. He moved with a speed that still astonished the Master Chief. The Hunter sized creatures could run almost as fast as the Spartan and that made him nervous. But he didn't have time for that. The Brute was playing games with him; right as he was about to slice the Chief's head off he lowered his shoulder and plowed into the confused human. His shields immediately flared up and were blown off. The alarm in his helmet immediately started to blare as he crashed into the ground ten feet away from his previous spot. He tried to get up but the Brute was already over him. The creature grabbed his neck, picked him up with one hand, and threw the weakened Spartan another ten feet to his left. He knew that he could gain the upper hand by weakening the Brute but he didn't have the chance to prepare a plan. Turning his head he was startled to be looking down the barrel of the Brute's grenade launcher. In a final moment of victory the Brute let out an earsplitting roar. That was his chance! The Chief grabbed his serrated combat knife as fast as he could and slashed the Brute's right arm, the one holding his weapon. His attack landed perfectly where he wanted it, purple blood poured onto the snow as the Brute lost all control of his hand. The tendons had been cut. He instantaneously dropped his weapon, his hand numb and weak, and kicked the Chief in his ribs, throwing him another five feet. 

"_Chief, you're shields are malfunctioning. You're defenseless." _He was wondering why they weren't coming back. Desperation was overcoming the weary human, he knew that he couldn't tire the monster out, he needed to wound it severely enough so that he could kill it. But the time hadn't come yet; even though he was losing he would still fight back. The Brute came rushing forward for another kick, but milliseconds before impact the Chief got up and dodged the huge foot instead tripping the Brute as his inertia kept him moving. Seizing the chance to take the upper hand the Master Chief jumped up and ran over to the huge beast lying on the ground slowly getting up. He jumped onto it's back and positioned his knife so that he could slit the Brutes throat. Right as he was about to cut the Brute's neck, it stood up and started to thrash around. Even with the heavy armor of the Master Chief the Brute seemed to not even notice. It was becoming desperate, the Helljumpers needed a relief but with the Brute attacking him he couldn't help yet. The Brute was still thrashing as the Chief tried to cling to his back in a desperate attempt to slit his throat, but right before he got his chance the Brute got a hold of his arm and threw him off to the side. This time he wouldn't be getting back up. The Chief slammed into the snow and slid another few feet. His visor was shattered and he couldn't feel his right arm. The Brute slowly came up to him knowing he had won.

"Cortana, start the self-destruct sequence along with your deletion." 

_Master Chief, I have to be fully active to start the sequence. I can't be deleting myself at the same time._" He was surprised at how little emotion she showed at the idea of her own demise. Right as the Brute came up to the Chief there was another humming. But it was different, deeper and louder. Something different was arriving at the kill zone.  


	4. The Claire Ann

Chapter 4: The Claire Ann

            UNSC Frigate _Claire Ann_, High Orbit over Terra II, Hydracordatus system

            "Captain Ronalds? Could you come here please?" The blazing red headed captain walked over the technician to his right.

"What is it?" asked the forty-year old quickly and quietly. 

"I'm getting energy spikes from the blind spot around the planet, I'm cross referencing them right now…but whatever it is, it's getting bigger." The captain tapped his chin thinking. 

"I want radio silence, have all personnel go to their battle stations. Oh, charge up the MAC cannon, and warm the missile pods up."

"Yes, sir." As he finished alarms started to ring telling the crewmembers to go to their stations. The captain walked back to his post and tapped a few buttons patching him over the intercom.

" All Longsword squadrons are to deploy and fall into defensive patterns ASAP. Five are to be armed with Shiva class nuclear warheads. That is all." The captain knew what the energy spikes were, they were Covenant battle cruisers coming out of slipspace. He hoped that it was only one or two; with luck they could use clever tactics to win out. But at the rate that the energy spikes were coming he knew that there was more than that. His eyes were riveted on the window in front of him. 

"Sir, MAC cannon is at seventy-five percent." He just nodded in return. Then he saw it. A large purple craft started to appear from their blind spot. The bulbous ship moved with incredible speed, outrunning any ship the UNSC had of comparable size. 

"MAC at ninety-nine…one hundred percent."

"You will fire on my command."

"Yes, sir" replied the weapons technician. Ronalds was still watching the Covenant battle cruiser come into full view of the _Claire Ann_, when another started to come around. The smaller craft was at least three-fourths the size of the frigate but could still tear it to shreds with ease. But that was not the last one, five more of the cruisers came around and fell in around the battle cruiser. Yet the spikes kept coming. Then the Covenant did something unexpected, they stopped their advance. He learned why though. Four more battle cruisers appeared along with their smaller support cruisers. 

"Is there any way we could make a slipspace jump?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"No," replied the technician bluntly, "You know we don't have the capability to do a slipspace jump this close to a planet."

But the captain wasn't listening, he was watching as a Covenant flagship came into view. Once the Covenant battle group got into formation, securely protecting the flagship, they started to move forward. He wasn't sure on the distance, but he knew they were almost in range of the huge plasma turrets. His stomach was in knots, he knew that he could either cause some disastrous effect to the battle group and become a hero, or become another unknown captain of a ship that was destroyed. He didn't want it to be the latter. The huge cruisers started to have an evil red glow around them as their plasma turrets heated up, each ship wanting to be the first one to burn through the inferior ship. 

" Lieutenant, I want the MAC cannon locked on that flagship along with every single archer pod. Alert the Longswords and tell them to fire the Shivas on a timed detonation in X-ray formation."

"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant started speaking into his headset to the other techs on the deck, "Sir, MAC is locked on, Archers in five seconds."

"Fire in ten seconds, not on my command," replied the Captain who was still staring down the Covenant battle group.

"Oh…my…god… Captain! Captain! I-I find a hole that we could make a Slipspace jump!" stammered a bewilderd NCO.

"What?" he stopped mid-sentence. He had a decision to make; jump and leave the recovery team on the planet or stay and be killed. If he jumped they could bring reinforcements if the Covenant decided to set up base for a while.

"Make the jump, but fire our weapons first."

"Aye, sir." When the tech finished the _Claire Ann _jolted and its lights flickered as the white-hot MAC shell hurtled toward the flagship. When the shell was halfway to the ship the Archer missiles left their pods and streaked across the darkness of space to their target. 

" Make the jump." When he finished sparkling light started to appear around the small UNSC vessel. With a slight push from the engines the Frigate slid into the hole created by the Shaw-Fukijawa slipspace generator and away from the Covenant battle group. 

            The gold armored Elite looked on the holo-screens in front of him with interest. The human ship had fired a large projectile at the _Unending Greatness_ along with small missiles. He clicked his mandibles in anticipation of eliminating the humans in the most diabolical way possible. _Suffocation would be nice, _he thought. But he looked back at the screen and saw the tail end effects of the Slipspace jump.

"Do not follow them," he said bitterly. The great one would not want to waste his time with them. Angry with himself the Elite saw the MAC shell moments before it impacted, but instead of impacting on their shields it slammed into the bow of the flagship and tore through the bulbous section. He felt the thumps of decompression throughout the _Unending Greatness. _Then the Archer missiles slammed into the ship. The holo-screens started to flash red with warnings. Turrets were failing at an alarming rate. Then something caught his eye. There was a small silver object floating towards their ship. He zoomed in and saw that the object wasn't debris but a tube. The Elite cocked his head in curiosity. Reports were coming in from the other ships saying that their shields and plasma turrets were going offline along with decreased power readings. One caught his attention. Another ship, the _Protector, _had spotted the same silver object. 

"What is happening!?" he roared to an unsuspecting Grunt next to him. The Grunt shivered and started to squeal, he ran off before any pain would be inflicted on him. Answering his question was an Engineer who started to chirp quickly. The Elite's translating software told him that there was some kind of magnetic anomaly happening. He turned back to the screens, frustrated at the current events. Suddenly there was a bright flash and huge explosion on the far left side of the battle group. A blinding light boiled over the two Cruisers there. One of the destroyed cruisers had reported the silver object.

"Evacuate the Holy One!" He yelled throughout the ship. On the far right of screen another one of the explosions erupted, this time taking out only one ship. The Elite immediately felt his ship start to move backwards with a sharp jolt. About seven kilometers in front of him there was a third explosion tore apart the blackness. It's shockwave quickly dissipated in the zero-g conditions. He spied the Shiva nuke in front of him with a wary eye. 

"Make a slipspace jump!" he yelled out.

"We can't the generators are malfunctioning," replied a red armored Elite behind him. The general was becoming increasingly anxious as his large ship tried to maneuver away from the nuclear warhead. 

" The holy one is away from the ship on a path to the planet." _Good, _thought the Elite, _We do not need to worry anymore. _He looked at the Shiva one last time seeing a small flame at it's back as it propelled itself closer to the flagship. Then it detonated.


	5. A curious ODST

Chapter 5: A curious ODST

            Terra II, Hydracordatus system, Covenant Kill zone, engagement in process…

            The lone Helljumper huddled in the heavily damaged point Longsword. He looked out of the cockpit window and saw the Covenant drop ship roar overhead. He scrambled to the back and sat down next to the mysterious object next to him. It hummed slightly and gave signs of life. The marine got up and looked it over. It was pretty obvious, there was a small computer panel on the top with a small touch pad. He tapped random buttons until it hummed to life. The screen flickered a bit before staying solid. There were five lines hinting at a password. The Helljumper repeated his scientific process by tapping random numbers. After a few tries of basic numbers it accepted the password. The screen changed to what looked like a menu screen. It gave him four options: Arm, Reprogram, Disarm, and Self-Destruct. Seeing as "Arm" was the best choice he touched that button on the screen. The screen once again changed, but this time to a small bar and timer. He stepped back hoping it wasn't some kind of weapon of some kind. 

_: 56_

He rummaged around through papers and data pads that were scattered around the ship. His heart beat quickly as he searched for anything that would explain what the thing was. __

_: 31_

The Helljumper suddenly found a manifest for the Longsword and skimmed through it. He swung around quickly as yells started to come from the Longsword with his squad mates in it. Standing around the Longsword were a few Brutes. But inside he saw blood splatter against the cockpit, the yelling immediately stopped. 

_: 14_

He came to the bottom of the sheet and noticed an item listed as classified. 

_: 03 _

The Marine jumped behind the pilot's seat in a futile attempt of living. But nothing happened. No explosion, no burning heat, nothing. He slowly got up and walked over to the machine. The bar was full and flashing green, a button had replaced the count down timer, it said: Release. The Helljumper cautiously tapped the button and flinched immediately. The machine started to vibrate slightly along with a low, quiet thrumming that was steadily growing louder. 

"What the hell is this thing?" he said out loud. But a crunch in the snow caught his attention. He wheeled around and saw a huge blood soaked Brute ten feet away from him. The Helljumper raised his rifle and charged the behemoth in a desperate act of bravery. He was about five feet away when his midsection blew apart from the impact of a grenade launcher.

*Keep meaning to do this, I don't own any of the Halo books, games, or companies that are involved with Halo…although I wish I were, also, I purposely made this chapter short.


	6. The Prophet of Justice

Chapter 6: The Prophet of Justice

            Terra II, Hydracordatus System, Covenant Kill zone, engagement in process…

            The Master Chief looked at the Brute who was walking towards him. He tried to use his right arm to help him get up but his arm was probably dislocated from the Brute's throw. 

"Cortana, start self-deletion process now. Alpha-Beta- X-ray "End of all things"." Cortana's voice changed to an emotionless monotone.

"Affirmative, Alpha-Beta- X-Ray "End of All things". He heard a succession of beeps and then they stopped.

"Cortana?" then the final proof happened. He felt the mercury leave his mind. A pang of guilt flooded through him. His one help was now gone. But there were more important things, namely _his _survival. The Brute walked up to the Chief and grabbed him by the throat and proceeded to lift him up off the ground. The thrumming that had been quieter moments before began to grow even louder, to the point that it hurt. The Brute started thrash his head back and forth at the sound that was growing louder and louder. Thanks to the Chief's helmet the sound was dampened a little but it was starting to hurt his head as it grew louder. The Brute's grip started to loosen around his neck so the Chief took advantage of the lapse in his strength. He threw his armored gauntlet into the Brute's windpipe to temporarily stun it. It worked better than he had hoped; the Brute immediately dropped him and started to claw at his thick throat fruitlessly. The Chief fell to the ground hard but quickly got back up. He knew that he'd have to at least temporarily get his arm back in its socket. Pushing through the immense pain he grabbed the top of his arm and thrusted it into his shoulder socket. There was a _pop_ like he had cracked his knuckles. His arm almost instantly felt more maneuverable, but still painful and stiff. He looked over at the Brute who was now making gurgling noises and wobbled slightly. The Brute would most likely die; his airway had been pulverized in an instant. Because of that his lungs were filling up with the Brute's blood, drowning him essentially. The Chief walked over to the Brute's grenade launcher and decided to use that against the remaining Covenant who seemed to be suffering from the same condition that was now overtaking the Spartan. He could feel his mind slowing down and his body became heavy. The thrumming was so loud the Chief thought that his eardrums would burst. Then it stopped, almost as if it was unplugged, the thrumming stopped. He hadn't realized it but he had wandered next to the point Longsword. Looking around he saw the horrific site of a Helljumper who had had his lower section blown apart from a Brute's grenade launcher. But the Brute who had killed him was back with the other Brutes and Elites who were recovering from the odd phenomenon. He peeked inside the craft and saw a large silver cylinder that was smoking and had sparks coming from it. He looked on the main screen and saw four commands. The "Self-Destruct" command caught his eye so he tapped it. A timer came up giving him thirty seconds to run like hell from the object. He tore out of the Longsword but slipped in the snow, but it was to late, he had caught the attention of the Covenant and was about to be fried by a barrage of plasma fire. But none came; the Covenant only came towards him weapons whining with plasma. He quickly got up and started to run again. The Chief dove behind one of the huge obelisk like rocks around the bowl when the device detonated. The shockwave tore the Longsword apart as if it were paper; it continued on and shattered every single one of the obelisks. The Chief was thrown to the ground so hard he thought that his breastbone was shattered. The Covenant near the Longsword were torn apart in an explosion of purple and black blood. Then a huge fireball erupted from the remains of the Longsword melting the snow and metal around it. The Chief rolled over and looked at the carnage from the explosion. Debris rained down on him, burning his exposed face. But there was another thrumming in the distance. He looked into the gray sky for the source of the noise and was rewarded with two Phantoms and a ship he had never seen before. The Phantoms circled around the bowl looking for anything that was alive. Satisfied, they lowered down to about three feet off the ground and unloaded Elites in an armor scheme he had never seen before. They wore the same black armor of the Spec-Ops Elites but these were lined with gold on then edges and had intricate designs all over them. The Elites spread out and got in a defensive perimeter and stood rigid. The Master Chief stayed absolutely still; his camo protecting him for the time being. The other ship started to lower and he got a better look at it. The Craft was about fifty feet long and looked like a Covenant drop ship that had had the part between the two prongs filled in with the same purple armor that all Covenant crafts had. Instead of the normal one turret on the back there were two; both were scanning the entire area closely. 

"Cortana-," he began to ask her what the craft was but stopped; forgetting he had deleted her. He decided to nickname it a "Specter" for no reason. The Specter slowly settled five feet of the ground and produced a mini grav-lift from the stern of it. The first group to come out were twenty of the ornately armored Elites who were in a small phalanx formation. They moved forward slowly emptying the landing part of the Grav-lift. The second group was a small contingent of Brutes who wore the same armor scheme as the Elites. But instead of moving forward the Brutes separated into a small circle just outside of the lift's beam. The creature that came through this time was something that startled John. He was expecting some high ranking Elite or Brute to come through but not a Prophet. The small impish creature was sitting in its purple grav chair, covered in robes of the same that his royal guards wore. His gold headdress glinted in the poor weather as if it were lit with lights of it's own. The Brutes tightened the Circle around the Creature and started to move forward; directly towards the Chief. The perimeter Elites bowed down and parted for the large group as they moved closer to the Chief. He laid down in the snow hoping that they wouldn't see him but it was useless. The group was ten feet away from the Chief when the Elites split apart and encircled him; every single one of them aiming their plasma rifles at his head. The Brutes followed suit and filled in the gaps. He had never been so close to Covenant without the intention of killing them. Then the Prophet came up to him. There was an almost inaudible whirring from the grav chair that the Prophet slowly bobbed up and down in. The Chief stared the prophet in the face not even blinking. 

"Do not worry human, for right now you are safe. We will not kill you."

"Isn't that nice to know, I get to be a pet for the great Covenant," replied the Chief angrily.

"Hold your tongue _infidel_, we mean not to kill you yet. If you want it to be painless I'd keep quiet," The Chief was surprised at how well the Prophet spoke English, "Guards, you are not to harm him at all. If you do I will have one of my private guards tear every single one of your organs apart one at a time." 

The Prophet moved closer to the upright Chief and floated to the ground. He exposed one of his small hands and flicked it. Instantly the Chief's helmet unsealed and floated to the ground.

"Humans, such interesting creatures. They would have made nice warriors had they not been so _weak._" The Prophet emphasized his last word trying to provoke the Chief. He didn't move at all.

" Is that why all of your Brutes and Elites lay dead thirty feet behind you?" he replied maliciously. 

"Every once and a while you might get lucky, like this," he rummaged around in his cloak for a holo projector and then showed a clear image of the space above Terra II. There was debris everywhere along with have destroyed Covenant cruisers and carriers. "Interesting phenomenon that happened. That device you destroyed caused it."

"Good for me," he spat back coldly. 

"Guards, pick him up and return to the craft." Two Brutes picked him up by his armpits and carried him to the Specter that the Prophet had entered. The Chief was out of ideas. There were just to many to fight in his condition. He would have to obey the Covenant if he planned to survive.  


	7. Dancing Lessons

Chapter 7: Dancing Lessons

            New York, Earth, Sol System, Infiltration of rogue UNSC and ONI officers…

            "The only weapon you'll have with you is a pistol so don't start any firefights, you'll lose," Fred said. 

"They'll probably have guards too, with assault or battle rifles. So if it does get hot, along with us you should try and subdue one of them," added Will. Linda was standing in a small hotel room with an expensive black dress on looking at nothing in particular as she got into the mind set of her mission. The Spartans were temporarily on loan to the ONI to help with an investigation into some high-ranking officers planning a hostile takeover of the UNSC, and ONI. Essentially gaining control of the human military units. She rocked back and forth, uneasy without her sniper rifle and MJOLNIR armor. Fred and Will finished their last minute preparations. The targets were inside of a popular club that was the perfect place to have a discussion but not be conspicuous, considering the suspects were all in their late twenties early thirties. Soldiers who had seen the Humans steadily losing and wanted a policy change. Linda looked around the room hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything important. Not seeing anything she grabbed the silenced pistol on the nightstand and slid it into the concealed thigh holster. Her dress was specifically designed for this occasion; the right side went to her knee while the left, after tapering up, ended at the middle of her left thigh. She double-checked that the holster was concealed before leaving.

" Remember, hold your fire until _you _are fired upon. You have no armor on, just like us," advised Fred.

"Got it." She walked out of the room and down an orange hallway to the emergency exit. She fixed her hair to keep it out of her eyes and placed the color changing contact lenses in. The pistol rubbed uncomfortably against her leg but she didn't move it. The pistol had to be on the inside or people would see it, and if it were in the back she'd be at a disadvantage having to reach farther. She reached the stairway and checked to see if anybody was around. The stairway was a stark contrast to the elegant hallways behind her. Her high heels clicked loudly as she rushed down and onto the pedestrian walkways. She moved quickly towards the club on her right. Sneaking a glance to the entrance of the hotel a man in an overcoat left and started to follow her; Will. After walking one block she stopped to look at a sign, which was really just a sign for Will to head to the club and for Fred to be her tail. She felt a slight brush on her back as he slipped by. The club was five blocks away but she could already hear the blasting music. They had already agreed that any kind of communication would be almost impossible in there. 

            After walking the distance to the club she entered in alone, a rare thing to happen. She entered in and was blasted back by the music and thick air. The club was lit up in a light blue color that made the occupants silhouettes against the huge blue cubes stacked randomly in the middle. Only about fifteen feet in the club's ceilings shot almost straight up revealing the second floor and the huge dance area in the middle. It made her sick thinking that almost all of these people could care less about the war either because they were constantly high or to drunk to pass boot camp. She walked further into the large crowd. Suddenly the music stopped and she stood rigid fearing that she had already been spotted. Looking up though she saw that the cube complex was actually the DJ's area. 

" Yo, Yo, I think we need some new scenery," he yelled out. The crowd around her started to cheer wildly apparently knowing what would happen. Around the second level balcony and from the roof holo projectors started to come out and came to life. Right above her the air started to glow then burst into life with random shapes that immediately flew around the room on cue with the next song. She started moving again looking for the officers around the outer tables. She knew that they would most likely be in a corner away from the bustle of the partiers. Upon reaching the edge of the depressed dance floor someone bumped into her, but it was deliberate. Fred had given her the signal that he was with her. Then she spotted them, there were the six suspected officers seated at a booth in the corner. She looked at the booths and saw that they were full too; highly unlikely in a club like this. They were also all men with buzzed cuts, definitely standard issue military. Cautiously moving forward she came to within feet of the table and waited. She hoped her height wouldn't give her away because all of them had at least seen one Spartan in their careers; luckily they had all taken medication to tan their skin so they didn't look like ghosts. Every once in a while she would spot either Will or Fred walk past quickly glance and then move on. Even with her enhanced hearing their conversations were hard to hear. But what she did hear wasn't incriminating.

_Most likely proving each other's loyalty, _she thought. But where they were in the conversation lent her to believe it would be a while. She realized that she had been standing in the same spot for almost twenty minutes without moving at all. Fred came by and she flagged him down acting as if they were friends who were lost.

"Fred! Hey where'd you go after that last dance?" she called out. He looked startled but started to play along.

"Bathroom, then I got a drink sorry."

"That's okay, come on lets dance." He nodded and the joined up.

"I needed to move away and not look like an eavesdropper," she whispered as they moved to the dance floor.

"Got it, Fred'll probably keep an eye on them for us," he replied.

"Yeah, they weren't saying anything important."

"Testing each other." They arrived in the middle of the dance floor and weren't sure what to do. Even with their liberty that they got they never done anything recreational, just target practice. But Linda didn't want to attract any suspicions so she grabbed Fred's hands and placed them on her hips. 

"Just rock back and forth," she whispered into his ear with a smile. He gave a low chuckle and listened. They danced for two songs and then went back to spying on the officers. After another five minutes of waiting one the men got up and headed past her. She let him get in front of her and then put her hand by her rear end and made a "Tail" in the air to alert Fred and Will who were watching her. He was heading towards the bathroom but she saw a dark corner she could get him into. Speeding up she gained on him along with retrieving her pistol discreetly. He was ahead of the alcove when she grabbed his shoulders and quickly threw him in. She rammed him against the wall and jammed the gun into the bottom of his spine.

"What the hell?" the man yelled out, he turned his head and was looking at Linda with a smug smile on his face, "You bit-." She cut him off by ramming the silenced pistol deeper into his back. Linda repositioned her body making it look like they were to lovers trying to hide themselves. She leaned in closer to his ear and decided to play with his mind.

"Do you remember the ancient city of Sparta?"

"Yeah kinda," he replied quickly.

" Their soldiers were the most skilled and deadly during that time period."

"Good for them."

"They were the most feared peoples of that time period, don't you think so?" she asked coldly.

"What, is this a history lesson or something?" she rammed the gun harder into his back making him answer her question, "Yeah, they were the most fearsome."

"Well, you should fear me then, considering that I'm one of them."

"What's that supposed…to…mean…holy crap…" he said realizing what was happening.

"Ah, you're a very bright man. I wouldn't do anything that might make my finger slip."

"You Spartans never make a mistake."

" A touché. Lets get down to business then. I hear that you want to take command of the Human forces into your own hands…illegally."

"What? No-no- no, that's not it. I swear, we just thought that we needed to do something about the High Command and their military tactics."

"And how were you planning on doing this?" she asked calmly while quickly tapping the screen on her small watch.

"We…we just wanted to screw up a mission and show them that their tactics were not working," he replied nervously, his voice cracking.

"Sounds like insubordination, heresy, _murder_."

"MURDER? What the hell are you thinking? There is no such thing as murder in combat."

"Yes there is, if you purposely get people killed that sounds like murder to me." He wouldn't be able to reply for at that moment screams erupted in the crowd as ONI Spec Ops troops came storming in. People were rushing around the dark club trying to get out. Linda yanked the officer around and used him as a plow to get through the people. Three marines came up, their faces illuminated by the green data screens over their left eyes. 

"Ma'am, the rogues have been apprehended," stated the middle one. He flicked his hand and the two around him came forward and grabbed the officer. 

"Something else?" she asked.

"Yes, initial reports from the Master Chief's mission are that there was one-hundred percent casualties." It hit her like a sack of bricks. A wave of guilt flooded over her as she remembered that they were late to his departure and weren't able to say good-bye to John. Her eyes started to glisten and she felt light headed.

"T-thank you." The marine saluted and rushed away obvious that it had hit her hard.   


	8. Fleet High Command

Chapter 8: Fleet High Command

                        FleetCom Council, Melbourne, Sol System, Council hearings…

            "Thank you captain, what is next on the agenda?" asked an elderly man in the blues and grays of a UNSC admiral.

"The failed recovery mission on Terra II," replied a voice from the shadows. The FleetCom council was sitting in a huge dimly lit room deep under the rebuilt Melbourne. The eleven council members sat at a raised, curved mahogany table under the scrutiny of the three hundred spectators in the dark seats thirty feet in front of them. There were four large tables around the bottom row of the seats for the presenters. 

"If I may ask, what are the exact details for this mission," asked a salt and pepper haired man on the far end of the table. He leaned forward looking at the nervous ONI and UNSC lieutenants at the two middle tables. They shuffled through their papers looking at each other. 

Fed up he said, "I'll come back to you," he turned his gaze to the far left table but stopped. In the darkness there were three golden objects floating in the air. A small smile crossed his face and he rubbed his chin slowly. "Spartans?" There was a slight stirring in the audience when he finished. The three golden objects moved forward and materialized into three seven foot tall Spartans.

"Sir, yes sir," replied a male.

"Is it true that one of you were lost in that mission?" he asked, seeing how they would react.

"Correct, sir," replied a different male. The UNSC Vice Admiral looked at the three and saw small twitches between the three.

"Please take your helmets off, I'd like to see your faces." The three Spartans hesitated but complied. The two closest to him took them off immediately, but the third removed theirs slowly. A chestnut haired woman greeted the Admiral who was taken back.

" Vice Admiral! This is _not_ time to display your dislike for the Spartan-II program," called out the white haired man in the middle.

"Yes Admiral Reinhardt," replied the man. He waved for the Spartans to return to their original positions. 

"Back to the matter at hand," continued Reinhardt, "What was the _exact _purpose of this mission gentleman?" The Lieutenants had found their information and stood up. The UNSC officers started first. 

" Captain Easley was leading a Longsword squadron on a recon mission in Terra's mountain ranges trying to find any Covenant outposts located there." 

"Is that it?" asked a General three people down from Reinhardt.

"No, that's not it, but the information is classified at this point." But this wasn't from one of the Lieutenants; this was from an ONI Section Three General. 

"I'd like to see this information immediately. All personnel with level X-ray clearance or lower are to leave the room ASAP." He said gravely; classified info usually meant something that could hurt the human moral. The soldiers at the tables started to get up but were stopped by Reinhardt, "But understand, you will have a memory wipe proceeding this conversation." They all nodded. The Spartans were halfway up the aisle way when they were stopped.

"I need to discuss some things with you so I'll have you stay. But no memory wipe, a Spartan's brain is to complex," he said half jokingly, half seriously. 

            The large room grew quiet as the ONI general started to speak.

"We were testing a new device that could disrupt magnetic, and possibly gravity fields. It used a type of EMP that could be sustained and controlled. Preliminary tests showed no effects on our technology, which was promising. Using a captured Covenant weapon we used it to test a theory of ours. Covenant weapons use a special type of magnetic field that contains and propels the plasma. When we tested the device on the weapons…well, they stopped working as far was we could tell. So we decided to see if we could use this device in space to, at least temporarily, make the Covenant vessels immobilized without weapons or shields." The whole room was quiet; they knew that this weapon could turn the tides of the war. The Covenant had been pushed back but they were attacking more frequently with more ferocity. It was their counter-attack. The General continued, "We wanted to see what it's full useful range was, and not under laboratory conditions. We wanted real life conditions, so we had Captain Easley and his squadron go test it on Terra II were we suspected there were small Covenant outposts. We lost contact with Captain Easley four days ago, and the recon squad…twenty-eight hours ago." He suddenly looked as if the life had been drained out of him. The group was silent again, but someone speaking didn't break the silence, it was a door sliding open and an ONI officer running down the stairs quickly.  

"General! We're receiving the last signals from the EMP generator!" He reached the bottom of the auditorium and walked over to a small data screen on the side of the room and tapped a few buttons. The room turned pitch black, but filled with color as the UNSC insignia on the floor turned into a large holo-projector. A fuzzy image flickered on and then focused itself. It was footage from a small onboard camera in the Longsword. It showed the inside of the fighter with Captain Easley, his co-pilot and two ONI techs next to a large metal cylinder. 

"Fast forward to the accident please," asked Reinhardt. The footage sped up and then stopped. The two techs powered up the EMP generator and then the image went blank. The officer fast forward again and stopped when the image came back. The Longsword was rocking violently and it looked like the pilots were yelling at the ONI techs. There was a hard jolt and the image again went fuzzy. It came back showing the inside of the Longsword. One of the techs was on the floor in a puddle of blood. The other was nowhere to be seen. Easley and the co-pilot got up and grabbed their pistols and started firing at the air. Then two beam swords materialized in the air and beheaded the Captain, and the co-pilot, a geyser of blood erupting form their necks as their bodies fell to the ground. One of the Lieutenants quickly got up and ran up the walkway only to vomit halfway up. The ONI officer fast-forwarded the video, Elites moving around quickly inside the Longsword. He played it again when an ODST walked into it and hid. This caught the attention of the group. He got behind the control consol behind the pilot seats and hid. After a while he got back up and started to mess with the EMP generator. 

"Pause it and zoom in," called out the ONI general, the officer paused it and zoomed into the screen.

"That ODST activated the warm-up sequence for the generator," he stated. The officer brought it back to its normal size and played it. The ODST started to frantically search for something, apparently found it but ran back to the EMP generator. He tapped the screen and the image went blank. After fast-forwarding the image came back, but this time with a large creature in arctic camouflage. The three Spartans tensed at the site.

"Pause it, that's Spartan-117 isn't it?" asked Reinhardt, directing it to the Spartans.

"Yes, sir," replied Spartan-104. 

"Play it." The image started up again and showed 117 activating the EMP's self-destruction mechanism. He sprinted out of the ship, seconds later the screen went dead. The officer turned the projector off and the lights returned to normal. 

"So, as of right now we know that Spartan-117, the Master Chief, is MIA."  


	9. Pandora’s Box, Zion’s Revival, and The S...

Chapter 9: _Pandora's Box, Zion's Revival, and The Second Apocalypse_

            All information Unknown 

            John woke up quickly to a thumping in his ears that was very loud. He spun around the small, three-walled room he was in. In front of him was a rippling blue shield that was the entrance to his jail cell. Then he realized that he was in a Covenant brig. He got up slowly, his right arm incredibly sore and stiff. When he looked at it, it was bruised and swollen. The brig was empty except for an Elite standing on a small raised platform next to a holo-panel. It reminded him of the _Truth and Reconciliation_'s brig that he had saved Captain Keyes and a small group of marines three years earlier. The cell was quite warm which felt good considering he was only in his bio-suit. He looked around the cell and found that it was barren except for a bed, a small raised section with a hole he assumed was a toilet, and a small sink. Right as he was about to sit down the large doors outside and to his right slid open and a group of black armored Elites and on gold one entered the brig and headed towards his cell. The blue shield dropped down and two of the Elites grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him along. The Elites formed into a phalanx with three in front and three behind the Chief and his handlers. The gold Elite turned around and walked backwards, staring John in the eyes. Even with out his MJOLNIR armor the Spartan was only an inch or two shorter than the Elite.

"The almighty one had requested your presence infidel," the Elite said in a deep voice, "If you want to live very long I suggest you hold your tongue and treat him with the utmost respect."

"Is this the same Prophet that captured me?" replied John honestly.

"The _almighty one _is not the one who captured you." The Chief did not reply mostly because the Elite wasn't giving him much info. He was led out into the dark hallways that were filled to capacity with Grunts screaming words in their own language, Jackals chirping to each other and Elites roaring at him. He realized that the Elites leading him around weren't to keep him restrained but to keep the tides back. But in spite of the verbal attacks he kept his head high and walked with impunity. The small group took a right and entered what seemed to be a hangar for transports. They entered one and stood patiently. There was a jerk and the transport disconnected from the airlock. Immediately the sides of the transport melted away and showed an amazing and yet horrifying site. The Covenant cruiser he thought he was on was actually one of three large orbital defense rings. Covenant crafts of all sizes traveled to fro crowding the space. The two Elites let go of him and he walked around the small transport. He came up to the walls and saw that they were projecting a holographic image of the outside space. All around there were cruisers and carriers being built at large space docks and smaller crafts coming out of the bulges in the orbital rings. He heard a grunt from one of the Elites and he spun around. They were all staring at a patch of space that was shimmering. Instantly he saw what was so important. A monstrous shipped had appeared, at least 7 km long. What was surprising was that it didn't follow the normal Covenant design of bulbous sections. It had two large prongs each at least 5 km long, and then set back was what looked like bridge that was raised but still had a low and streamlined profile. On the sides, next to the bridge, were two wing like sections that looked like they could move. 

"One of the planet killers is here, _Zion's Revival _right?" asked an Elite.

"Yeah, here come the other two," replied another. Sure enough two more patches of space started to shimmer then suddenly materialize into the huge crafts.

" _Pandora's Box _and_ The Second Apocalypse,"_ said one Elite to no one in particular. John felt a strong hand grab his arm and yank him away from the side. As this happened the Elites got back into their spots and stood rigid again. The shuttle jolted a bit and the airlocks slid open with a hum. He looked out of the doors and saw a long hallway that was brightly lit and teeming with Elites and Brutes, all in black armor. They headed down the hallway not attracting more than a mere glimpse from a passing alien. John's legs were starting to ache as he tried to keep ups with the Elites' fast pace. It also didn't help that his legs were stiff from being cramped up in his prison cell. The whole time the Elites only barked once or twice to each other. They arrived at two large ornate doors that didn't open when they reached them. They stood for seemed to be an hour before they opened up revealing a room that shimmered every time you moved. The walls were covered in glass shards and the floor had a holographic display of multiple systems and planets, all with information written in the Covenant common language. Sitting in the middle of the room was a small creature floating a few meters of the floor. The Elites that were restraining him let go and immediately left the large room. 

"Come to me John," said the Prophet. John obeyed and slowly walked towards him. He thought that the room was very large but seemed to be an optical illusion, seeing as he arrived in less than ten seconds.

"Why didn't you kill me?" asked the Spartan.

" Many reasons, but I have to kill you now seeing as you saw some our fleet being assembled."

"Your fleet?"

"Ah, yes. You didn't really believe we would just let Earth remain 'alive' if I may say so. The Humans are a plague upon this universe and we will kill every last one of the," he paused as if contemplating something, "No, we will let one male and one female live so we can breed them and use them in our conquest of the universe." Rage started to boil up inside of John at the Prophet referring to the humans as breeding tools.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked with a clenched jaw.

"I am the Prophet of Truth, vessel through which the gods control the Covenant." The Prophet stirred at this, his red and gold robes shimmering in the bright light. "You may have some purpose after all." John immediately felt a kind of tingling in his brain, as if something was probing him. The Prophet just nodded his head and raised his right hand as it started to glow blue and shake. There was a burst of light and the Chief fell backwards. He tried to get back up but his limbs did something else. He got on his knees and leaned forward putting his forehead on the ground. Another presence took over his body and he was pushed back into oblivion.

            The Prophet stared at the Human on the ground. He got up and stood rigid his face was expressionless. He looked into his eyes and saw that they were glassed over. The Elites walked in on his command carrying parts of the MJOLNIR armor that had been repainted black with gold trimming. 

"Put it on," the Prophet commanded.

" Yes master," replied the mind slave, his voice both the human's original voice and a new deeper voice all mixed together. The slave put the armor on and waited.

"You will be my new military commander. Go now." The slave only nodded and walked off.  

*Sorry about the delay in updating, I'll be gone for a few days before I can start Chap 10

       


	10. Precious Cargo

Chapter 10: Precious Cargo 

            Orbital Defense platform #154, High Earth Orbit, Sol System

Chief Petty Officer Hokawa sat at the blank comms panel in front of him. The UNSC fleet was surprisingly quite devoid of chatter, just the usual "I'm moving to here," " Roger that," crap. He was about to get up when there was a rapid _beep_ing. He walked back to his screen and looked for what was signaling him. He looked at the words scrolling across, _what the…_ he thought. Hokawa opened up the slipspace logs for the day and saw no record of the incoming vessels. The E-7 immediately switched to FLEETCOM 7 and gave the warning.

" U.V. coming through slipspace all nearby vessels are to move to Victor Brava Delta immediately." After that he signaled the alarm for all of the orbital and super MACs to get online. There was another tone at the comms screen that called Hokawa back, it was another message for the ship, and this time it was giving info. He opened the message and was startled at what he read:

UNSC Heavy Carrier Trilon and supporting craft are inbound to Earth, ETA two minutes. Slip jump is unreported due to classification. Code word is: Shadow. 

            Hokawa felt like an idiot, instead of replying he got half the UNSC Earth fleet on alert status. But to be safe he decided to hold off on standing down, the Covenant were sneaky bastards nowadays. The first of the MAC crew arrived fully alert. They began to open the huge observation windows flooding the command floor with sunlight that was automatically dimmed by the tinting. Hokawa sat at his consol watching the increased chatter between ships. He brought up a view from a spy drone that was close to the jump point. It finally hit him that the vessel was jumping _in _system. He knew that the _Ascendant Justice, _before being destroyed, had given them new technology but he didn't know that it was already being implemented. The spy drone had just gotten in place when there was a shimmering and an armada of ships appeared. The Chief Petty Officer was surprised at how loosely they used the term, _Support Craft. _There were at least thirty ships that he could physically count along with another twenty that were too small from that distance. But the most striking one was the Heavy Carrier _Trilon. _He'd only seen pictures of them, and even they were the pre-war kinds that were like lumbering beasts, shooting whatever came in front of it. The carrier was at least two kilometers long. It also wasn't very tall so it could maneuver better, unlike the older versions. Its support crafts were two more Carriers, five Battle Cruisers, eleven Destroyers, and twelve frigates. The rest were Longswords, Pelicans, and the new Trojan intra-ship transports. Hokawa looked at his panel and saw that communication was almost non-existent; everybody was in awe of the small armada. 

_" Heavy Carrier Trilon requesting docking clearance."_

" I'm gonna have to find the nearest Heavy Carrier dock for you _Trilon_. Hold on a sec," said the controller next to Hokawa. He saw his hands quickly fluttering over the keys searching for a dock big enough for the _Trilon_. 

" Here we go _Trilon _the repair dock number 28, that's big enough. I've marked docks for the rest of your vessels."

"_Actually, we need immediate surface transport for a Frigate coming towards you, the UNSC Claire Ann has very valuable information that needs to be seen immediately," _responded the _Trilon. _

"What? We have that ship listed as MIA. Okay, we'll have escorts get the crew to the surface."

            Captain Ronalds was sitting in the Fleet High Command Council room; the same room the three remaining Spartans had been standing in three hours earlier. He looked around the room and saw the glowing eyes of the ODST Heavy Recon team's escorts they had sent with him in the shadows (if you want a really good image of them, think of the Deep Eyes from FF: The Spirits Within). 

"Captain we need a full recount of what happened to you and your crew," asked Admiral Reinhart.

"We were tasked with delivering the recovery team of ODST units and… Spartan-117, upon arriving we delivered the team but were met with a large Covenant armada. We decided to do as much damage as possible before initiating evasive maneuvers. I asked a technician to prepare for a slipspace jump following an archer missile barrage and a MAC shell. Once we fired the technician found a hole we could jump through that did not previously exist. Once we jumped we set a course for Polaria on the outskirts of the Epsilion Eridani system. Where it turned out, there was a surprise Covenant assault. But as we arrived the ODST 7th Heavy Recon Division arrived to break through the siege. At first the battle looked like it'd be a lost cause but some mistakes made by the Covenant command enabled us to take the upper hand ending the orbital bombardment. Then the 7th deposited their troops and took control of Borealis, the capital city. After telling them what had happened they gave us a portion of their fleet to escort us back here, without following the Cole Protocol. Which if I may speak bluntly Admiral," Reinhardt just nodded, "Is severely restricting our reaction time, I can understand protecting our military worlds, but Earth and the Sol System have been located, why pretend that they still don't know about it when they attacked just two years ago?" The Admiral looked down and nodded. 

"You have a point Captain, we are cutting our own legs off, and as of right now the Cole Protocol is ineffective." One of the many young enlisted soldiers ran off signaling every UNSC vessel.

"Sir, if I may add," said a voice from the shadows. One of the Heavy Recon soldiers walked forward and removed his helmet revealing a man in his mid-thirties with brunette hair and a scar across his forehead, "The Covenant are assaulting worlds with renewed strength they are becoming more vicious, they are willing to sacrifice whole fleets to destroy one world. We need to pull our fleets back to the Sol System to defend it." The ODST kept walking forward, his urban camouflaged armor glistening in the low light. " We can't win this war if we have no stronghold."

"I know what you are saying Colonel, but we cannot keep hiding here fending off wave after wave of attacks, we need to assault their home world, which we still have no idea where it is located," interrupted Reinhardt.   
 "That is not entirely true Admiral, we think we have a good idea of its location," replied the Colonel. This got the attention of the whole room.

"The precious cargo we have was not the Claire Ann itself but the information we have stored _on _it," said Captain Ronalds, "During our jump in slipspace we picked up echoes from a Covenant cruiser with certain coordinates that, when cross referenced with maps of the galaxy, are in the very middle of dead zone for the fleet, no ship has ever gotten past point." The holo display in the room came to life and showed one of the arms in the Milky Way. It was directly across from the band the Earth was in. The map zoomed in and showed an incredibly large system filled with gas giants and a few solid planets. 

"The Co-ordinates point to this planet here," when Ronalds said that the map shifted to a planet that was eerily the same as the Earth, "But there was a second set that led to this planet," the map then shifted to a large purple planet almost twice the size of Jupiter, "This planet has at _least _fifty moons, if this were the Covenant's new home world, all they had to do was set large explosives in them and they could decimate any kind of enemy fleet. We need to strike what we has been called 'The Sanctum of the Hierarchs', we believe that is where the Covenant High Command resides. We attack their command at the top they'll be lost. It's suicide but it needs to be done," Ronalds paused as if pondering something, "If we were to _capture _a Prophet we might be able to negotiate a cease fire, or even a truce. This is our only chance to do something to end this once and for all."

The Fleet High Command council was silent; they had never been so close to ending the war. 

" Colonel Anderson, I want you to formulate a plan for either assassinating the whole Covenant command or at least capturing one of their commanders. Your only restriction is that you _must _include a Spartan. I trust you and your men but I want an insurance that we can hit them hard and fast."

"I would be honored to fight alongside a Spartan," replied Anderson as he saluted, " Recon, move out!" The shadow warriors walked disappeared out of the room with Anderson. Captain Ronalds stood up and was about to salute when Reinhardt stopped him. 

"You will be their escort seeing as you know so much, you need to move quickly and stealthily. I have a feeling time is not on our side anymore."

" Aye, Aye Admiral," responded Ronalds who saluted and left.         


	11. The Protector and The Rebel

Chapter 11: The Protector and The Rebel

            Covenant Home World "Step of Silence", capital city "High Charity", Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Karok System

            The Prophet of Truth slumped forward in his chair, drained from the mind takeover. He looked up with his eyes and saw his slave walk out of the Sanctum. He sent an impulse to the entire Covenant telling him that he was one of them, further draining his energy. The Imperial Elites rarely saw the Prophet use so much of his psychic energy in one meeting. But he quickly regained it and sat rigid again. His mind was solely on the Chief whose mind was now fully converted; he had no feelings for the Humans. The new "Military Commander" was actually going to be the Prophet's personal bodyguard. He'd been feeling anxiety over some kind of plot against the Covenant Hegemony and was assigning the strongest soldiers they could spare to them. He spun around called upon the holo-projectors to bring up an image of the Step of Silence home fleet. They were preparing to leave for another sweep of the humans. But there was a new weapon at their disposal, The Planet Killers. The three of them were the Covenant's assurance of victory. But in the unlikely case of failure they had a newly discovered Halo at their disposal also. Once all of the Covenant forces were out of the vicinity they would use it to eradicate the Humans. The Prophet of Truth turned around again and set his mind back to his anxiety. He could only do so much without cutting himself out of the picture, which wouldn't do much for the forces needing spiritual guidance at this time. But the thought kept coming back to him; _The Humans aren't smart enough or strong enough to try an assault against us, but if that is true, why did we lose?_ He made his mind though; the Covenant would strike the Humans swiftly but not at their outer colonies, Earth itself. But he wanted to test his new protector in battle to see what would happen. But before he would tell him his new mission he would probe his mind to find any signs of "decontamination".

            The Chief walked outside of the Sanctum and stood rigid. The only thing was, he wasn't in control of his body. He tried to just move a finger but they didn't respond. The hard part was he could still hear, smell, feel, taste, and even see his surroundings. He decided to fight his captor. His whole mind shifted to just trying to move a finger. It was excruciating but he though he felt the presence control him start to weaken ever so slightly. The sign of weakness gave him new hope and it seemed like the presence started to weaken even more. The Chief thought he was about to make it move when a whole new energy entered his mind and threw him back. It was familiar; he had felt this presence before.

"_Human! Your attempts at freedom are futile. For that I am taking away what little freedom you did have!"_

Suddenly the whole world that he knew disappeared and turned into a land of shadows. He had no contact with his senses anymore. His mind drifted away and fell into darkness.  


	12. Saying Goodbye to Old Friends

Chapter 12: Saying Goodbye to Old Friends

            Heavy Recon flagship UNSC _Trilon, _Free Orbit around Earth, Sol System

            Colonel Anderson walked into the _Trilon_'s strategy room and was saluted by only three soldiers while about fifty others just looked at him. Three Spartans were standing rigid saluting their superior.

"Please sit, as of right now you are in the Heavy Recon Division. No one gives a damned about ranking or etiquette, well, except for the Navy boys driving this thing," he said with a smile. He quickly walked next to a large a holo-projector. He was only a little bit smaller without his armor on so his. His "PJ's", as they called by the Marines and Army, that the Navy wore were a special kind that made him stand out as H.R., were mostly gray with certain parts olive drab, and a deep red. He brought up an image of the Milky Way just as Captain Ronalds had done a week earlier. 

" Hell, I'll be blunt, we have a pretty damn good idea where the Covenant Home World is," he got déjà vu when he looked at the surprised faces around him but was startled when he looked straight into three gold visors, he quickly looked away and continued, "That's not all, we're planning a small assault on the planet that I'm calling 'Sadow' for now. Now, any of you who do not think you can do this leave now," not one person moved, "Good. That means I can trust you. I'll carry on. We are going to attack what is called 'The Sanctum of the Hierarchs', that is where the Covenant Hierarchy resides, presumably," he quickly added on, "We are going to either neutralize the Command elements, or more preferably and harder to pull off, capture the head Prophet." He stopped for a second to let it sink in. Only one person had a question, Fred, who stood up and removed his helmet, his trimmed brown hair slightly shiny from sweat.

"Is this a one way mission, _sir_?" he finished asserting his dislike for the informalities.

"Ninety-nine point nine percent…yeah. Don't expect the _Claire Ann _to sit there to get fried while we go down and raise a little hell. She's dropping us off out of system and we come in on a stolen Phantom. After that we pretty much wing it. There will probably be at least two fleets there protecting the planet," he replied, not even mentioning the slight insult from the Spartan.

"Thank-you, sir," and Fred sat back down.

"Hmm-mm, any other questions? To tell you the truth I have no idea what is going to happen. You were hand picked for this mission, but if we pull this off _and _Humanity survives you _will _be recognized. Your families will be-," he stopped dead; Anderson looked at some of the soldiers and saw some men who could anything, crying. Many of them had lost their families and just fought like demons trying to bring some kind of closure to themselves or as much damage to the enemy as possible. 

"As I was saying though, you won't be nobodies after this, oh, we leave in two weeks," continued Anderson. He walked out of the room and was again saluted by the three Spartans.

            "I don't like the idea of all three of us going on the mission. One of us should stay," said Linda right when they were inside their cabins.

"That's true. Who though?" added Fred.

"I think we should have Colonel Anderson make that decision," said Will.

"Fred, you go find him and ask ok. Will and I are going to go to the armory to get or weapons and other gear ready for whoever does go," Linda said.

"Okay, I'll be back," he replied. Once he left Will and Linda headed down to the armory where some of the other H.R. guys were already getting weapons and ammo.

"Uh-Hello, what do you need?" asked a young man behind a thick Plexiglas window.

"I want two MA6E Battle Rifles, two M10D Pistols, four MP14K-R SMGs, one PSF-7, and ammunition for all of them, we'll be back," she replied, her smile concealed beneath her helmet. After a few minutes the same young man came from inside the armory desk with a small robotic dolly full of weapons and ammo. The two of them quickly checked over to make sure all of what they asked for was there. 

"_Hey, guys. The Colonel agrees and wants Will to stay behind. Sorry man, wish you were coming," _Fred said over their suits' intercom.

" That's okay, needed some repairs done on my suit anyway," he replied.

"Well, Fred, come to the armory and pick out your gear for the mission. I've got some generic things here already," Linda told him.

_"Okay, I'm on deck five so I'll be there in a minute."_

"Well, I'm gonna get off the ship just in case they decide to leave early. Maybe get my stuff repaired soon."

"Okay, but just wait till Fred gets here," she said. He just nodded. While they waited the armory attendant brought out some combat backpacks for their gear and five Lotus anti-tank mines. But when Fred arrived the anxiety grew.

"Not very good at goodbyes, you know," Will said after a long silence.

"Yeah, but hey, just think about it, you'll be the only one left. That's gotta feel good," replied Fred.

" Nope, not one bit. But hey, its been fun while it lasted," he said patting Fred on the shoulder, then shaking his hand. He then turned to Linda.

"Best sniper I've ever met, Linda. You give 'em hell from the shadows."

"You know it, 'One Shot, One Kill'," she replied quietly.

"See you later," he said and then gave her a quick hug.

"You'll be waiting for me on the other side right?" Will said as he walked off quickly.

"You mean on the other side of the airlock?" replied Fred. Will answered by using the Spartans' sign for a smirk, moving his finger from the corner of his mouth and jerking it sharply up. He had a strong feeling he wouldn't see them again. 


	13. Echoes of Terra II

Chapter 13: Echoes of Terra II

            Hive world Syphon, Reach Debris Field, Epsilon Eridani system

"_Fred, keep your head down!" _Right as Linda finished there was a loud _crack _and a 7.62 mm bullet zipped over Fred's head leaving a contrail that slowly faded away. 

"Thanks," he replied.

"_Don't mention it_." Fred was sitting behind the remnants of a blown out Warthog which was being torn apart by plasma fire. He looked up and saw a Pelican come over, it's chain gun spraying .50 cal bullets into the Covenant position but didn't make it out alive. 

" This is Spartan- One-Oh-Four asking for evac from my position, over," he waited but nobody replied, "Linda, can you see _any _friendly forces in our area?"

"_Negative, we're all alone Fred. I can't see anybody nearby that could come to us. I suggest you come to my position."_

"Okay, I'll need some cover fire, preferably a smoke bullet." Another _crack _and his request was granted. The bullet gave off a thick cloud of blue smoke creating a nice screen for him. He got up quickly and sprayed a quick burst from his SMGs in the Covenant's general direction and ran toward the nearest building. Fred called up a NAV point to give him Linda's exact position. It centered on the middle floor of a large building three blocks down. He started to run again and came under a hail of plasma fire. Fred looked back and saw a large group of Covenant coming through the smoke. Some Grunts started to scream and yell before letting loose a barrage of green plasma.

_"Close your eyes Fred." _He did so and waited for the inevitable _crack, which_ quickly followed. But there was a loud _bang _almost immediately after which startled Fred. She fired off a flash-bang round right in front of the Covenant. Fred kicked it into overtime and sprinted the last two hundred feet before the Covenant could recover. He slammed through a window in the lobby and quickly ran up the stairs to Linda. He came in and was met with the barrels of two pistols.

"Damnit Fred, couldn't give me a heads up?"

"Sorry," he replied quickly. The two of them walked to Linda's sniper perch and lied down overlooking the street that Fred had just been on. The Covenant had recovered and were now scouring the road looking for the Human. Linda was looking down the scope but holding her fire.

"I'm looking for the commander," she informed him. He decided to help so he pulled out his pistol looking for the elusive commander.

"Got him," Fred said. He pointed him out for Linda who put his head in her crosshairs.

"Prepare to move once I fire. They'll see the contrail." Fred just nodded. She started to pull the trigger but stopped suddenly. Fred looked at her but didn't say a word. 

"Oh…My…God…F-Fred, look at th-this." She handed him the rifle so he could see what she saw. They were both stopped dead in their tracks.

            The Master Chief was leading a large group to help in the scouring of Syphon when they came under sniper and small arms fire. 

"Get to cover!" he yelled out. The Chief ran to a corner in front of his group and get against the wall. He peeked out and saw a small band of Humans running to cover also. Raising his Pulse Rifle he brought up the sniper interface on HUD and got a Human in his sights. John fired one bolt and watched as the thin red beam sliced through the air and blew a fist-sized hole in the man's head. He kept firing at the Humans before moving back towards his soldiers. They were taking quite minimal casualties for the amount of sniper fire they were under. One round took out his XO, another taking out a Jackal hurrying to better cover. He couldn't quite get a fix on the sniper but he had a general idea where they were. Suddenly they started to take fire from someone behind a Warthog. The Chief got the attention of a nearby Elite and told him his intentions, he would turn on his light-refracting cloaking and move up behind the Human. By the time he was ready the sniper had set up a thick smokescreen. They were about to move when a quick burst of fire made them dive for cover. He motioned for the Covenant group to move forward. They quickly charged to the smokescreen where they moved through slowly. Once out of it they opened fire on the Human who got behind cover. Suddenly the Grunts started to freak out and fire madly. Something was different about this Human. Then there was a shot from the sniper and his hearing and vision were gone. He dove forward and slammed into the Warthog and waited. There were echoes throughout his head, screams and bangs as the sniper took pot shots. Eventually his senses came back and he got up. All around him were dead bodies, but his group was mostly intact. They were scouring the road for the elusive Human. The Chief walked over to his new XO and was talking to him when a glint caught his eye.

            Fred was looking down the scope when the Chief turned and looked directly at them.

"Crap, get cover quick," he whispered. They rolled opposite directions to the nearest table or desk and waited.

"_That wasn't him Fred. It can't be, he was killed!" _she screamed and cried at the same time.

"I know, but it's not an Elite in his armor."

"_How do you know? For all we know it could be a robot!"_

"No! Linda snap out of it! He's one of them now! He's gone!"

"_Bullshit!" _He didn't respond to her, instead he slowly crawled over to the sniper rifle and prepared to kill the Chief.


	14. Brother Versus Brother

Chapter 14: Brother versus Brother

Hive world Syphon, Reach Debris Field, Epsilon Eridani system

            Fred looked for the Chief but he couldn't find him. The Covenant kept moving around as if nothing had happened. But he had an epiphany. Fred switched on his thermal vision and scanned the area again. Nothing. 

"Damnit," he cursed under his breath. He was about to look again when Linda shook his shoulder.

"We need to move to the top floor to get an evac. Give it up." Her voice was slightly jumpy from her breakdown. Fred nodded and picked up everything that he could carry. The two of them rushed up the stairs as fast as possible repeatedly calling for an evac.

"Fred, I think our signals are being jammed by the Covenant."

"Probably, I'm not even getting anything of FLEETCOM: 7, that means trouble." They continued to head up the stairs arriving at the one hundred and thirtieth floor, which was really a large landing pad. Once they were both outside Fred set two Lotus mines next to the doors to at least slow down any kind of large intrusion force. He felt a brush of wind before he closed the doors but he attributed it to their height. Linda immediately set up her rifle again and scanned the Covenant group that had now encircled the building they were in. 

"_This is Pelican Foxtrot-Nine- Thirty inbound, you still their Spartan-One-Oh-Four, Spartan-Oh-Five-Eight?_" 

"Affirmative Foxtrot, this is One-Oh-Four, over," Fred replied quickly.

"_Nice to know, the evac group was just deployed. ETA of ten minutes, if you could please set out beacons, over_."

"Negative, there is a large Covenant group encircling our position, we'd compromise ourselves if we did that."

"_Ok, are you in the shadows?_" the male pilot asked.

"Negative Foxtrot, we are on the sun side of the building."

"_I should be able to see you then One-Oh-Four." _

"Ok, it might get hot though, over and out." Fred gave Linda, who was watching the whole time, a thumbs up. She replied with a Spartan "smile". Fred was about to grab all of their gear and get it together when he was thrown to the ground by an explosion.

            The Chief immediately turned his cloaking on after seeing the reflection off of the sniper scope. He sprinted towards the buildings lobby and started up the stairs. John quickly hurried to three floors below the one the sniper was on and just waited. Then he heard two Humans leave that floor in a hurry. He glanced up and saw who they were. Two Spartans were running up the stairs carrying a heavy load of equipment. That's when the Chief made his move. He followed about one floor behind them to the top where they moved out onto a large landing pad. His instincts told him that they would set explosives on the doors so he got out in time. John got outside just before the door was closed on him. He quickly got to the edge of the pad and waited. Scrutinizing the Spartans, the Chief recognized the one by the door as Fred, 104, and the sniper as Linda, 058. He turned on his signal jacking and listened to Fred's conversation. _So an evac is coming, _he thought, _that can't do. _The Master Chief slowly moved to the door to set his new plan into action. He placed a coil of high-tension wire on the door and got up against the edge. Fred started to walk away from the door when the Chief pulled on the wire. The blast through the huge warrior forward about twenty feet. Immediately the Chief uncloaked and ran for Fred.

            Fred opened his eyes and saw how far he had been thrown. He was about to turn over when he was lifted off the ground. Somebody was saying something in his ears but he couldn't make out what was being said, "_ETA two minutes"._

Fred grabbed at the hands gripping his throat and pried them off. Instinct told him to move out of counter-attack range so he did so. His attacker was still unknown but when he saw who it was he was stopped dead in his tracks. No more than fifteen feet away stood a huge creature in black Mark VI MJOLNIR armor. But it was different, there were words and symbols intricately inscribed in gold, but he couldn't recognize any of them. His time of observation was over when the Chief charged at him with his combat knife. Fred started to block each swipe by hitting his lower arm with his arms. Fed up with the stalemate they both threw a punch into each other's chest, there shields flaring up. Out of the corner of his eye Fred saw Linda with her pistol trying to get the Chief in her sights but they were moving to fast for her. Fred did a roundhouse kick that landed square on the Chief's helmet. He was about to do another one but he got thrown to the ground by some kind of invisible force. 

"I wanted to fight you fair but I must end this before you are rescued," the Chief said. His voice shocked both Fred and Linda, but she saw an opportunity and started to fire the pistol. The slugs slammed into the Chief causing his shields to flare up, flicker, but before she could fire off more rounds the gun was torn from her hand and flew into the Chief's. He then aimed it at Fred who was getting back up. The Chief fired twice, both rounds impacting on Fred's helmet. The first shot blew his shield off and the second put a dent in the top of his helmet. Linda charged at him but got blown away by the same invisible blast that had hit Fred. She slammed into the concrete and rolled away, unconscious. But before the final blow could be unleashed on Fred a silver Pelican came roaring over, it's chin-mounted chain gun raking the landing zone. The Chief immediately turned his cloaking on and moved away, but not before firing at Fred who was still on the ground. One round missed but the second hit in between the lower leg and thigh armor. Fred's blood sprayed onto the concrete causing him to scream in pain and pull out his combat knife. He threw it at a slight distortion in the air. It hit the Chief and his shields flared. The Pelican, who was hovering with its chain gun moving back and forth, opened fire in the pot where the flare up had occurred. 

"_ One-Oh-Four, I suggest you get aboard the Pelican _now. _We've got you covered so you can get Oh-Five-Eight." _Fred nodded and got up; then limped over to Linda who was laying face down. He rolled her over and looked through her shattered visor. Blood was coming out of her nose but that was all the injuries he could find. Fred struggled to lift her up with his wounded right leg but finally managed to do so. It seemed like forever trying to get to the Pelican that was now repositioned with its rear compartment over the landing pad. He could see plasma bolts racing up toward the vulnerable evac. Fred got to the Pelican and set Linda on the floor of the Pelican which was at about chest level. A crewmember rushed over to try and pull her in more but Fred stopped him.

"Don't, you'll hurt yourself." The crewmember listened and went back to his seat.

"Hurry up, I think the Covenant are coming up here," the gunner yelled down to him. Fred lifted himself into the Pelican and lied down next to Linda who was becoming conscious again. 

"We're good to go," yelled the man who tried to pull Linda in. As he said that the Pelican lurched forward then quickly gained altitude.

"_Sorry about the wait Spartans, the Covenant armada was jamming our signals. Don't worry though, your Heavy Recon friends took care of the space battle." _Fred looked over at Linda and saw she was smiling. Some of her auburn hair was on her face and he gently moved it. 

"You did good," she said.

"No, I didn't get him," he replied, his voice suddenly bitter.

"Don't worry about it, you'll get him next time you see John." 

*I noticed a mistake in one of the names I used so I changed it    


	15. Newcomers

Chapter 15: Newcomers

            Covenant Home World "Step of Silence", High Charity, Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Karok System

            The Prophet of Truth was waiting anxiously for the Human to give him a report of what they had found on their way back. Something called a _Chiroptera _had been found with two Humans aboard it in a state of cryo freeze. He tried to keep calm but from the sound of the Human's voice it was important. Then the large doors leading to the Sanctum opened up and the Human along with an entourage of Elites walked in. They all kneeled down and waited for the Prophet to acknowledge them.

"Rise great warriors," he said. The sea of black armored soldiers rose and moved forward. "What did you find…John."

"We found a presumed derelict Human craft with two Humans on board in cryo freeze. We are reviving them as we speak."

"Good, is there anything special about these Humans?" the Prophet asked.

"Yes your Excellency. One of them is a Spartan, like my host…and the other is the creator of the Spartans," the Chief replied, removing his helmet.

"Most interesting, and what of Syphon?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"We failed in taking control of it. But we did inflict heavy casualties upon the enemy until a Special Forces armada arrived. Most of our vessels retreated and withdrew our forces, your Excellency."

"That is okay, it does not concern me. But I'd like to know about your encounter with the other Spartans." The Chief drew a deep breath and began.

"I infiltrated their evac point and wounded both of them. I would have won if I was not pre-occupied with the other one, she is no challenge," he said with anger in his voice. 

"That is okay also, now go and oversee the revival of the Humans."

"Yes, your Excellency," the Chief said. He bowed deeply and left the Sanctum.

            Kelly looked around the cryo-tube and only saw white clouds of evaporating Nitrogen. She couldn't remember how long she had been in cryo freeze but it had to be a long time. Her body started to loosen up so she tried to move but couldn't. Some of the mist cleared and she saw that there was a pulsating blue energy all around her body. She looked out of the tube and looked at an Elite square in the eyes. Her training immediately kicked in and she tried to escape to a better position but it was impossible. But when the tube opened up that is when she started to panic. The Elites around her started to grab her arms and pull her out. Kelly looked around and saw something that made her heart sink. Two Elites were holding Dr. Halsey with an almost death grip on her arms. She looked into her face and saw a great sadness. Kelly decided she wouldn't stand for this. She yanked the Elite on her right arm straight into the one on her left. Quickly picking up their weapons she pointed them at Halsey's captives. They tried to grab their Plasma Rifles but were immediately shot and killed. 

"Dr. Halsey! Get behind the cryo tubes," Kelly yelled.

"Okay," she replied and got behind her tube. The Spartan rushed up against the wall and was finally able to take a look at her surroundings. The room was about fifty feet by fifty feet and quite bright in comparison to the Covenant's choice of dimness. The door to her right opened up and a small group of no more than five jackals came in. They chirped back and forth to each other, curious as to what had just happened. Then they noticed Kelly against the wall and squawked loudly along with raising their shields and firing. Anticipating this Kelly gracefully ran toward her cryo tube and rebounded off it, headed directly for the Jackals. The Jackals were amazed at her athleticism but quickly recovered and started to fire again. Hot plasma sizzled around her as the pistols whined from the heavy firing. The huge Spartan landed on top of four of the Jackals and sent them to the ground. The two that took the full force of her attack hit the ground with the sickening noise of organs and bones being crushed beyond their limits. Kelly quickly got up and shot the Jackal who was standing in the face, his purple blue blood spraying the wall. She then spun around and did the same to the two who were critically wounded from her body slam. It was hard to get up due to the large puddles of blood beneath her feet but she did so in time to see an Elite reactionary force enter. They quickly got to her and threw her to the ground restraining her with some kind of energy coils that crackled with her own shields. The Elites also looked for, and found, Dr. Halsey but gently held her. Kelly was forced up on her feet and put the same energy coils onto her feet with enough slack between the two so she could walk. But instead of moving they just waited. Then they heard another set of heavy footsteps that were very familiar. Kelly's mind started to race, _The Chief's coming, we'll get outta here with the doctor_, she thought. But when he entered it was she was punched in the stomach. His olive green armor was now black with Covenant symbols etched in gold all over the armor. He quickly removed his helmet and nodded to a group of Elites who had just arrived. The Chief waited for the doors to close before speaking. 

"Hello Kelly, Dr. Halsey," The two of them said nothing, " Might as well cut to the chase. The Chief as you know him is no longer here. I guess I could say he was 'deleted'?" Kelly looked into his eyes that used to be a vibrant dark brown but were now cloudy and glazed over. 

"So who are you now John?" asked Dr. Halsey.

"I am technically no one. The great Prophet of Truth is my master. But I am my own person." Katherine Halsey just gave a quick chuckle and closed her eyes. "Enough with this, take them," he said, directing the last part to the Elite holders. The Elites shoved Kelly forward and led her out into the dim hallways of the High Charity complex. Eventually the quite large column of Covenant soldiers arrived at the ornate door of the Sanctum of the Hierarchs. Outside there were at least fifteen Brutes standing guard. They looked at Kelly and just snorted, trying to resist the urge to take her head off with one swipe of the huge scythes connected to their weapons. The huge doors opened with a groan and the column entered the Sanctum. At the far end sat a small creature slumped in a chair that was floating about three feet off the ground. He moved his small claw and Elites descended upon Kelly and started to strip her armor off. The Mark V armor was much heavier than the Chief's Mark VI, which she had just noticed. After the armor had been removed the Elites left the Sanctum and didn't return.

"Come forth John, and bring the prisoners with you." He walked forward, the small phalanx behind him followed. 

"Release the prisoner, they are no threat in here," the small creature said, his voice amplified by the mirrored walls. Kelly felt the strong hands release her and she rushed to Dr. Halsey, keeping her behind her. 

"Do not fear me. Look at my frail form I am only a servant of the gods," as he said this his voice started to become stronger and more commanding, "Look at the Chief here. He has gone to a whole new level, along with you…Kelly." The Prophet raised his right hand and pointed it towards Kelly. A blue glow enveloped it that instantly shot at Kelly like a bolt of lightning. Kelly hit the ground with a loud _crack_, she groaned a little but didn't stir. Dr. Halsey rushed to her but froze halfway. The Prophet had his claw towards Dr. Halsey who was trying to resist.

"What is your choice…Katherine? Service or Death?" the Prophet asked her with a malicious smile.

"I will not serve the Covenant," she forced out.

"You must not of understood me. You are going to live no matter what, what about this Spartan?"

"I will not let her become the twisted form of the Chief," but then something crawled into her mind. She remembered a sentence that she said years earlier. She remembered how she'd made a promise to herself to save every person she could. Even if Kelly were controlled she could be saved eventually. The Human's best weapons were becoming their worst enemy.

"Let her live," she said reluctantly. Once Dr. Halsey said that Kelly started to stir and then got back up. Then the same glowing blue energy enveloped the Prophet's hand and a bolt of white light struck the Doctor, throwing her to the ground.

"You'll be pleased with their service your Excellency," the Chief assured him.

"We shall see, we shall see."     

 


	16. Wounded in Action

Chapter 16: Wounded in Action

                        Pelican Foxtrot-930, Syphon Atmosphere, Epsilon Eridani System

            The Pelican that had just rescued the two Spartans tore out of the Covenant controlled airspace and did a roll to the right, heading for some thick cloud cover about three miles out. Fred got up and helped Linda to her feet. He put her into the seat closest to the cockpit and buckled her in. Before going to the back to help defend them he went to talk to the pilots.

"Sirs, both of our suits are compromised in their hyperbolic seals. We'll need to close the door when we start to leave the atmosphere." When Fred said this the two pilots got worried looks on their faces.

"We won't have any rear coverage and from what I'm hearing over the COM channels the Seraph fighters are hitting quite hard. Seems the Covenant are retreating but are taking as many down with them as possible," the pilot replied. 

"Aye sir, Thank you." Fred retreated to the back of Pelican and pulled a pistol out of the emergency box. He moved to the lip of Pelican and scanned the surroundings, carefully looking for the telltale purple metal of the Covenant fighters. After about three minutes –930 flew into the clouds and made its ascent out of the atmosphere.

"_Doors closing buckle up!_" The Pilot called out over the intercom. There was a whining as the door dropped down from the tail boom and locked in place, the whole time Fred watched for Covenant. He quickly sat down and felt the Pelican lurch forward accelerating to escape velocity. There was some heavy turbulence about halfway through their ascent till the end when they left the atmosphere. Fred headed back to he cockpit to see their surroundings. Directly in front of them the huge Covenant armada was firing on the numerically superior Human battle group. The pilots were talking quickly between themselves and the nearby UNSC space vessels.

"Bravo 5, I think you've got a deep shadow at your… nine o'clock," the co-pilot said.

"_I see him thanks Foxtrot- Nine, after I get this guy…_" to Fred the Longsword seemed to drift off but he was knocked out of his trance.

"Fred! What happened to your leg?" Linda yelled out. He looked down and saw a steady stream of blood flowing out onto the ground. The huge Spartan clumsily turned around and tried to focus on the flow of blood to the rear of the Pelican.

"Oh my god, I think his Femoral Artery is torn!" Linda yelled out. Fred started to stumble forward while Linda unclipped and rushed to help him down softly.

"This is Pelican- Nine Thirty, we have a critically wounded soldier, Spartan actually, and at first glance it looks like a torn Femoral. He's lost a large amount of blood, over." There was an immediate response.

"_This is UNSC Medical Frigate _Tybalt_, proceed to us ASAP. We need his weight, with and without armor, blood type, and exact cause of wound_," a cool female voice responded. 

"Did you here that?" the pilot called back. Linda heard but didn't respond. She quickly called up his medical information. 

"With armor is fifteen-hundred pounds, without he is two-thirty-one, blood type is AB positive, the wound is a gunshot to the thigh presumably severing or tearing the Femoral artery." As she said Fred's information the pilot repeated it to the Tybalt exactly. Linda quickly looked out the front window and saw the Tybalt near the rear of the battle group.

"_Where is the wound located_?" the female asked.

"About an two inches above his knee cap," Linda yelled out. She quickly grabbed the gunner and had him put pressure on the wound.

"_Ok, we need the armor to be removed ahead of arrival so we can get him to the OR upon arrival. It has most likely torn at the point where it splits_." Linda listened and started to do as she had been told. She went straight to his legs first removing them first. When she removed his thigh armor there was a small geyser of blood from the pressure being released. The hardest part was removing the pelvic armor that required Fred to be constantly put into dangerous positions but they managed. The other tech in the Pelican started to put the armor next to the cockpit door so they could easily access Fred. 

"Docked in three…two…one!" Linda went to the override panel and unlatched the rear hatch that crashed to ground with a deafening boom. She looked outside and saw the medical team rushing towards them from the lift. Lifting Fred up she met them half way. He was carefully put onto a large gurney and wheeled away. One of the medics looked at Linda and saw a huge bruise on the left side of her temple that traveled into her hairline.

"You need to be checked out also. You could have a concussion."

"No, I'm fine, I-," but she was cut off.

"Listen to me soldier, you will listen to my orders like it or not," the medic was forceful with her but she knew his opinion was the best.

"Okay," she relented. The two of them walked towards the lift complex, the medic asking her questions to figure out what had happened. But on the way over Linda saw drops of Fred's blood leading towards a large lift that had just left. The two of them got on a lift and waited for others before heading up.

            Fred tried to open his eyes but he was too weak. All around him he heard voices but he couldn't tell exactly what they were saying. He felt hands touching his leg along with his neck and stomach. Finally managing to open his eyes he saw that he was in an operating room and the doctors were about to give him some anesthesia for the operation. One doctor saw he was awake and came over to him. She put her hand on his forehead and started to whisper to him.

"We're going to have to operate on your wound okay?" All he could do was nod in response. She gave him a smile and went back to prepping. About ten seconds after that he blacked out, either from blood loss or the anesthesia.


	17. Hard Decisions

Chapter 17: Hard Decisions

            UNSC Medical Vessel _Tybalt, _Near Syphon, Reach Debris Field, Epsilon Eridani System

            Dr. Calkins walked out of the OR to wash his hands from the surgery he had just been. He took it as valuable experience, working on a Spartan. But after five hours he wasn't in the mood to reflect upon it. Calkins took off his blood soaked scrubs and changed into new ones. There was a slight jolt on the _Tybalt _causing his heart to jump. 

"_Sorry about that, we're maneuvering to a better position to receive wounded from the surface. I'd also like to say that from our position it looks like the Covenant forces are retreating. Captain Nathaniels out." _Calkins decided to talk to anybody waiting for the Spartan before he'd be sent back into the OR treating more wounded soldiers. He started to prepare for the deaths that were sure to happen that day. The doctor walked into the public area and stood for a moment. There were a few marines waiting there nervously. He was about to announce the surgery when he saw a group of heavily armed soldiers and one Spartan walked in through the main door. 

"Are you here for the Petty Officer?" he asked the group which walked straight towards him.

"Yes doctor," said the lead H.R. officer. 

"We need to discuss some things that are easier in private." He waved them to one of the many private rooms behind him. The Special Forces officers walked past him, not even acknowledging him, but the Spartan stared at him the whole time. Dr. Calkins walked to the front of the twenty by twenty room, dimmed the lights and turned on the holo projector. The shape of a Human leg materialized in the air so Calkins began to speak.

" Spartan One-oh-Four's Femoral artery was _torn, _not severed tike previously thought considering the bullet hole only hit a small part. It most likely tore from strenuous movement or great stresses, like leaving Syphon. I have a few questions for you first, how was the wound caused?"

"Friendly fire," the Spartan answered quickly, a little to quickly.

"Who caused the incident? We need this information for the standard follow-up investigation," Calkins asked.

"That is classified information," the highest-ranking H.R. officer responded, the glowing blue optic lenses the only indication of his existence.

"Okay…we believe the wound was caused by a pistol round, is this correct?"

"Yes," the same officer responded.

"How long ago did the incident happen?"

"From time of arrival?" asked the Spartan.

"Yes, ma'am."

"No more than twenty five minutes." 

"Thank-you. Right now the patient is listed in critical condition but is stable. Here is what we believe happened," the projector changed and showed the Femoral artery with the bullet wound, "This is what it looked like immediately after the incident, now here is what happened when it tore," all of the soldiers watched intently as the leg muscle started to move and the artery tore. Once it tore the artery retracted about three inches in both directions.

"As you can see we had some work to do but this is what it looks like now," the artery joined back together and covered in a device to hold it in place, and the bullet hole sown together, "He's in critical condition due to severe blood loss, we gave him extra blood but he'll need more soon and we're going to be low after this new wave of wounded comes through. Are any of you AB positive?" All of the H.R. officers shook their heads but the Spartan nodded.

"All of the Spartans were AB positive so that we could transfuse blood between each other," she replied. 

"Okay, I'll need you to come with me so we can draw blood. The rest of you can wait can wait outside." The officers stood up and walked out while the Spartan waited for the doctor. After walking for about two minutes the doctors guest finally spoke, 

"Will he be okay?"

"Unless some unforeseen complications arise, yes. Here we are, I hope you have some type of built in apparatus to draw blood." 

"Yes, sir." The Spartan took off the lower portion of her arm armor and then proceeded to open part of her bio suit revealing pasty white skin. The doctor took the needle and started to draw her blood, a pint total.

"We might need more but for right now this is good." The Spartan nodded in return and pieced her armor back together. Calkins led her back to the H.R. detail before getting his OR station ready for the incoming casualties.

            Linda walked out of the seventh floor emergency complex with her detail leading the way. She still wasn't sure why the five soldiers were with her, presumably to watch out for her well being after her concussion. They walked back to elevator complex and arrived at the main hangar just in time to miss the incoming casualties. Some just had minor burns on the body and were helped by their buddies whereas others were screaming as they were carefully loaded onto gurneys and wheeled to elevators as fast as possible. The small band of soldiers got onto the Pelican they had used to come to the _Tybalt _earlier. The large door closed and they took off, headed for the _Trilon_ who had single-handedly destroyed three Covenant cruisers. When they arrived there was a messenger waiting for them at their docking station.

"Sir, Colonel Anderson has requested that you are to report to him immediately," the messenger said to the Major in front of Linda.

"Thank you," he responded. The Sergeant saluted to them as the small group headed to Colonel Anderson's quarters.

            "What is his condition Major Larson?" Anderson asked.

"He is listed in critical condition, sir," Larson replied.

"Will he be combat ready for the mission? I need a no bull answer." The Major didn't say anything instead looked at the Lieutenants next to him.

"I don't think so," Linda said loudly, embarrassing the Major. Anderson put his hands on his temples and started to massage them, exhaling loudly as he did so. 

"Well, I need your opinion Petty Officer. Do you think we should bring the other Spartan with us or can you handle it?" Linda ignored the question and instead asked her own,

"When are we scheduled to leave, sir?" Anderson looked on his built in organizer at his desk.

"The fifteenth of March, three weeks," he told her. 

"He'll be ready by the twenty-fifth Colonel. Just wait ten days."

"I'm not going to jeopardize or mission for one person, Petty Officer."

"Here's the scenario Colonel," Linda started, her voice quiet and dangerous, "We go without one of your men it most likely make a difference, just one less man sent to his death. The Covenant home world is not going to be a stroll in the park; we'll most likely have to evade at _least _four Covenant battle groups, Flagships, Super Carriers, Heavy Frigates, you name it, it'll be there. The Spartans are the best personnel for this operation. If it were my plan I'd send a small group of soldiers along with the three remaining Spartans in to enter the Covenant Hegemonony complex. They'd be swift and deadly, but it wouldn't be a capture and leave mission. It'd be an assassination mission. Fred and I have been in a fight where the Covenant are protecting their Prophets. Never have I seen such ferocity, but I also saw resentment among the Elites towards the Prophets and their fanatical devotion to the Forerunners, you show their weakness and you can make them turn. We need to send a small group in and assassinate a Prophet in a very high leadership position. This plan won't work how it is currently set up." Anderson looked at her but didn't say a word. Linda was surprised at how she had lost control.

"I-I'm sorry, sir."

"Don't be, you're correct. We are going to redo this plan correctly," said Anderson, "Thank-You, Petty Officer."       


	18. Unwelcome Visitors

Chapter 18: Unwelcome Visitors

Earth, Sol System, Orbital Defense Ring 4

Corporal Garnet walked into the scanning center for the orbital defense ring and sat down at his monitor. He logged onto his computer and checked his messages before going to his work. Garnet expected it to be the usually slow day of ferrying around pleasure crafts, freighters, and UNSC crafts. But almost immediately transient contacts popped up throughout the scanner grid he was watching. He opened a COM channel to one of the other scanning centers.

"Corporal Garnet here, have you been getting some ghosts on your scanners?"

"_Yes, we've been getting them all over, we're sending some Longswords to find out what they are."_

"Okay, Garnet out." He closed the COM channel and continued to keep an eye on the blips that kept coming and going.

"_This is----sword ec—Two Nine Four--- Eraph-." _Garnet immediately responded but all he got was static. He replayed to message and his heart froze, he replayed the last two seconds and heard the same word Eraph. Garnet quickly put two and two together and realized what he was saying: Seraph. The Corporal immediately turned one of his scanners to where the Longswords had been engaged. The scanner swept the area but couldn't detect anything due to the huge floating debris field from the attack on Earth years ago. He turned on the camera and checked the area. What he startled him. Floating within the debris field was an enormous Covenant chip. The 7km long craft was angled so that it was pointing towards Earth but also not sticking out of the debris. Garnet's hand slowly hovered toward the FLEETCOMM 7 transmission button but stopped an inch short. In the camera more ships started to appear out of slipspace. They were all carriers, close to 3 ½ km long but dwarfed by the huge ship. Then more ships appeared, they were battle cruisers, frigates, and destroyers. They all surrounded the huge ship and just waited. His finger finally found the button and he tapped it. The picture he was looking at was being sent to every single ship in the Sol System, unfortunately a large chunk of the Terra Fleet was near Jupiter for training, but the signal would only take a few minutes to reach them. Almost as if on cue the Covenant group started to move out of the debris fields and into the shadow of the Moon. Garnet quickly had the computer count the amount of ships that had jumped. In a second a number appeared on the top right of his screen, Ninety-Eight. Even though that was still a large number, the Humans had been able to repel attacks of near a hundred and fifty. All around him people came rushing into their stations and started to receive all of the COM chatter that had picked up. Garnet picked up on certain conversations about "A fleet twice the size as the first attack," and "Three of the huge ships had been spotted." One of the scanning center's officers walked in and started to get things under control.

"We're rotating to face outwards, we need a better view. Corporal Garnet, alert all MAC and Super MAC guns of the situation. Petty Officer Johnston, send a COM to the marines on the surface to get into position to defend the MACs, we'll need them…" Garnet stopped listening and got to work, but he went one step further and sent a transmission to all of the orbital defense crews that Covenant were in the Terra region. Once he finished that he checked back on the group that he had spotted and zoomed in on the Moon. Every few seconds there was a flash that lit up the shadows. He was about to shut it off when the shadow was lit up from something bright. Garnet decided that his center needed to see this. The Corporal brought it onto the holo-projector and watched with everyone. He quickly glanced out their view port and saw that they weren't looking at the hologram but were looking at it live. The huge scanning center had rotated out and he was looking out towards the Moon. The shadows receded as whatever was causing the light got brighter. Then almost instantaneously there was a blinding flash. They waited for a few second but nothing happened. Then they saw the remains of plasma wash out into space.

"What the hell?" someone said behind Garnet. But the more surprising thing was that the Moon started to spin faster. The dark side of the moon, for the first time in human history, would be facing the Earth. All of the people in the center looked on in amazement as the pockmarked surface of the Moon started to slowly as it rotated faster. The first signs of the plasma shot came into view; the blackened chunks of the surface didn't look any different until the ground started to be glowing orange from the superheated plasma. As the sun started to hit the surface large chunks of the Moon that had blown off reflected the light. As if the group wasn't in enough shock as it was the Covenant fleet started to appear from the shadows.

"Sir, computer calculations show that the moon is still in it's orbit, but just with an accelerated rotation, looks like one half gravity now."

"Thank-you petty-officer, but we've just lost Moon Alpha base and Bravo base is now pretty much useless since they can't even point toward Earth now." The petty officer didn't respond which was probably smart.

"_This is the Trafalgar 2, Terra defense is incoming and should be in arriving from our slipspace jump near the Moon." _The last part hit everybody hard. But Garnet had to hand it to the _Trafalgar 2'_s Captain; he knew the time difference and had sent the message to coincide with their arrival. Sure enough, the Terra defense fleet appeared out of slipspace. It was an awe-inspiring sight to see close to five hundred ships appears at once. _Maybe we will have a chance to win, _Garnet thought.

Author's Note, sorry it took so long to update the story, I've been pretty busy and only would have set aside enough time to write it thanks to a person asking me not to leave it. Sorry I forgot your name but, your wish has been granted.


	19. The Battle for Earth Part 1

Chapter 19: The Battle for Earth Part 1

            Moon Shadow, _Trafalgar 2_, Terra Defense force, Sol System

            Vice Admiral Roche walked to the front of the _Trafalgar 2_'s bridge and immediately assumed control.

"Alright, some of those Covenant decided they wanted to mess with us again, you know what happened last time. We fought them and pushed them back. And by god we're going to do it again, but this time we're going to do it in space and keep those marines good and ready to help keep these bastards away from us. We might not have the Spartans but we've got the largest and most experienced fleet all around you. Captain, we're going to make a crescent shaped attack group around those Covenant, once they fall back into a stronger formation we'll surround them and put a few Shiva's into the center of them."

The Vice Admiral had been a hero early in the war commanding his frigate, the _Xenon_ to many victories but never seemed to be enough to turn the tides on any one battle. But over the years he was less and less eager to charge forward into the Covenant, he was criticized for his unwillingness to sacrifice his crew to kill one Covenant Cruiser. That all changed when Earth had been attacked, he was one of the few UNSC personnel who had been raised on the Humans' Home World. Roche was now as eager and willing to kill Covenant, as he was when he had been commanding the _Xenon. _

"Aye, sir," the Captain replied with a small smile. Roche's favorite tactician was Hannibal, the Carthaginian commander who led a war against the Romans. He always used the analogy that the Covenant was the Carthaginians and the Humans were the Romans. The Romans suffered sever losses for many years until they figured out Hannibal's tactics and used them against him.

Throughout the UNSC there was always a rivalry between the commanders of the _Hannibal 2, _because of its name, and the _Trafalgar 2_. The Vice Admirals of both ships always tried to outdo each other in combat. Roche looked out the main veiwport and saw the glowing orange surface of the Moon. He knew they had to destroy the ship that did that or the MAC cannons would be quickly taken offline. The engines of the Covenant ships started to glow blue as they turned to face the overwhelming Terra defense force that was bearing down on the.

"This is Vice Admiral Roche, I half of our ships to fire their MAC cannons at individual ships. The other half hold your fire until I give you my mark," Roche said over the fleet COM channel.

"Uh, sir, weren't we going to surround them?" asked the Captain.

"We were, but it just doesn't suit the purpose, we need to go right through these guys, they're going to give that huge ship time to get away."

" Aye, sir," the Captain responded finally understanding.

"Admiral, MAC has a lock, we'll be able to fire in ten seconds," the weapons tech replied from his consol.

"Do it," Roche replied. He looked back at the veiwport and saw a few shells tear past and hit their targets. The Covenant ships' shields flared, blew away, and the super heated shells tore into the hulls of the ships. Fire blossomed all over the ships as atmosphere blossomed out of holes. One of the Covenant ships detonated in a blinding explosion.

"Looks like they hit a reactor," Roche said aloud to himself. He then felt a thump on his ship and watched as the shell flew out from under the front of the ship and towards a cruiser that was hovering behind the rest of the group. It flew through a small opening between two ships and impacted the right side of the large front bulbous section in front. It continued through and must've hit one of the coils for the plasma turrets because there was a large explosion and the already weakened front was blown off. The piece impacted on the rear of frigate in front of it and blew it shields off. Roche felt a small surge of happiness but quickly squelched it, they had destroyed four of the ships so far, but he looked out the window again and saw hundreds of shells fly past and into the Covenant group.

"I think they assumed your mark was when you fired, sir," the Captain replied. The Vice Admiral gave a small chuckle and continued to watch as MAC shells hit Covenant ships repeatedly. A few plasma torpedoes were fired but they seemed to be un-aimed and in desperation.

"Landon, how many ships are still threats?" The _Trafalgar 2_'s AI appeared as a Carthaginian soldier and started to tap his sword on the ground.

"Five ships are almost untouched, three are damaged but can still attack, and another seven are dead in the water but their turrets are still active. So along with some others that are critically damaged and have reactors about to go critical, I'd say a total of twenty could pose a threat."

"Thank-you," Roche replied. He contemplated his options for the umpteenth time during the battle. Even though the Covenant that were remaining were damaged and in no position to take on the UNSC ships, they could still detonate their reactors and cause a chain reaction, quite possibly taking out a large group of the defense force. Roche scanned the remains of the Covenant group and was about to order his ships to proceed cautiously when a COM channel was opened and someone began speaking quickly.

"_A large group of Covenant have jumped and are near Earth as we speak. They're just sitting there waiting for something. We're requesting that you proceed straight ahead and help us."_

"This is Vice Admiral Roche, who am I speaking to first off."

"_Lieutenant Commander Branson, captain of the frigate _New Seattle, _we need your help because we've spotted a large Covenant ship approaching our position at a high rate of speed," _Branson replied quickly.

"Alright son, we're going to chase down that ship. Roche over and out," he immediately turned to the Captain and asked him, "What is the name of that ship? I want to know my enemies name, even if they are running."

"It is _The Second Apocalypse_, from reports over our battle net the other two that have been spotted are called the _Zion's Revival, _and, _Pandora's Box," _replied Landon.

" Thank you, put two Shiva's into that debris field and we'll follow after it has cleared."

"Aye, sir," replied the Captain. One of smaller ships in the fleet quickly went ahead of the rest of the fleet and fired off two Shiva Tactical Nukes and hurried back away from the blast. The Captain tapped a button on the command consol in front of him and the windows for the bridge darkened to almost black. After almost a minute there were two blasts inside the debris field. Even with the darkened windows the blast was hard on the eyes and made some people look away. Once the shockwaves and EMP dissipated the huge fleet started to move at full speed towards _The Second Apocalypse_ that had already gained significant ground on them. Roche decided that the defense force would be better able to help provide support until the other Sol defense groups could arrive if they split up so he sent half to go and help where they were needed.

            It took close to five minutes to come within firing range of _The Second Apocalypse_ which was almost three quarters of the way to it's new escort group. Single MAC shells weren't able to penetrate the shields, which seemed to be modular so that no one hit would take the whole thing offline.

"I want _every single _ship to fire their MAC cannons at the rear of that thing. I know we're low on strength but I want half the group to fire their MACs and take the rear shields off while the rest take out the engines and do as much damage as possible. Wait ten seconds and fire." Roche closed his eyes and started to countdown from ten. When he reached two he opened his eyes and watched as almost one hundred white hot shells flew towards the rear of the ship. They slammed into the shield that flared and finally broke after fifty hit it. The other group flew into the back of _The Second Apocalypse _and tore up the rear. One of the five engines detonated while two others just went out. The second group of the defense force fired their shells, which took the last two engines out and tore through the back of the Covenant ship and deep into the craft.

"Admiral, the ship is sending distress signals to the rest of the Covenant fleet which is currently here. Unfortunately it seems that there is a large amount of Covenant that has still not arrived at this point. I'd suggest hurrying up and destroying this craft because they'll be coming directly here."

"Thank- You Landon, I'll keep that in mind. But to keep you busy, what type of ship is that? I've never seen it before," asked Roche.

"It is referred to as a "Planet Killer" they're huge weapons," Landon disappeared and a hologram of the ship hovered in the air, "They absorb the plasma in a given area, like the Covenant plasma turrets, and supplement it with their own in reserve. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, they have to stay stationary during this process, that's why they have these defense groups." 

"Okay, so we need to take this thing out as soon as possible." Roche was about to call out another command when he saw a glint on one of the raised sections of the huge ship. He zoomed in on it and saw that it was a command bridge.

"Landon, I always thought that the Covenant had their bridges buried inside the ships."

"Yeah, but this one has to have it raised due to it's configuration," he replied matter of factly.

"I want to put some of those new Longbow missiles to the test." The Longbows were a new style of missile that was reminiscent of the Archers, except for the warhead was a low yield nuclear warhead that was designed to be fired at a Covenant cruiser and, along with damaging the ship itself, use the EMP to burn out the plasma coils used on the Covenant's weapons.

"Landon, is there a shield protecting the bridge?" Roche asked.

"No, or at least not one I can detect. It seems that one of those shells tore up a shield generator for the rear half. They're totally exposed."

"Ok, get a firing solution on that bridge and compensate for the attitude variance. I want a direct shot."

"Done, ready to fire Admiral," he replied without a care in the world.

"Fire!" As he said that a missile streaked past the _Trafalgar 2_ and straight towards _The Second Apocalypses' _bridge. The missile impacted the command deck and went off. For a split second there was a blinding light but it disappeared quickly. Roche looked at where the bridge had been and saw just a mangled stump where the bridge connected to the hull. Almost the whole length of the _Trafalgar 2 _had been vaporized in an instant. He zoomed in on the impact area. All around that area there were no lights due to the EMP.

"Landon, prepare to fire one more pod full, and tell the rest of the-."

"I've got at least a hundred and ninety Covenant cruisers, frigates, destroyers, and carriers coming out of slipspace!" Landon interrupted. Roche looked to the left and saw a sea of purple against the black of space.


	20. Aiding Those Who Call

Chapter 20: Aiding Those Who Call

            UNSC Medical Ship _Tybalt, _Near Syphon, Reach Debris Field, Epsilon Eridani System

"Hey Fred, how are you doing?" Linda asked quietly as she walked into Fred's room. She closed the door softly and walked up to him. Linda took a quick glance at the Mark VI MJOLNIR armor that was lying on a table next to Fred's bed. She spied the right leg piece and saw the bullet hole in it.

"I'm okay, feel a little light headed but that's it," he replied, his voice full of strength. He sat up in his bed and tried to move his right leg but he couldn't. Linda quickly reached out and held it in place.

"Don't, it could still tear. You're going to be out of action for a while," she said. Linda removed her helmet and set it down on a small table. Her shoulder length hair fell down and glinted with sweat. Fred tried to move his right leg again but she quickly stopped it again.

"I told you, don't try that again. You know you almost died on the table? It sure got my heart racing." Fred looked away in shame before replying.

"I know, but I still couldn't stop him."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. He was-no, he is the best. We'll get him back, you wait, those Covenant can't resist using him against us." Fred looked back at her. Linda looked into his eyes but they were shallow, something was missing from them but she didn't know what. A smile crept across her face and she looked away.

"What's so funny?" Fred asked innocently. He looked around the room; his gaze slowed when he looked over his armor and he caught sight of the hole in it but didn't dwell on it.

"Sorry, I'm just glad you're alive." She walked over to Fred and gave him a small peck on the forehead before grabbing her helmet and walking out.

            As Linda put her helmet on and sealed it tears streamed down her cheeks. She wasn't sure why but it was either because Fred laying there helpless on the building getting shot or the fact that a person she cared for, more than the normal bond between Spartans, had been trying to kill one of the last people she could turn to. The echoes of the gunshot kept replaying through her mind. But she was stopped when the ship's COM channel turned on.

"_All Spartans are to go to hangar bay eight for immediate transfer to the_ Trilon, _over and out_." Linda quickly brought up a map and arrived at hangar bay eight. She entered and found it empty except for one Pelican that was docked and the pilot standing outside of it.

"Hello, I think I'm your chauffer for today. We're just waiting for the other Spartan before we're going to the _Trilon_." Linda nodded in agreement and could sense an uneasiness in the pilot's, otherwise happy, attitude. He walked over to one of the engines and checked it before coming back to his original position, which was to the left of the main passenger compartment. There was a _thump _and Linda turned around to see a Heavy Recon soldier pushing Fred with a robotic dolly lagging behind under the heavy burden of his armor. The group quickly got onto the Pelican and took off towards the _Trilon_. Immediately after arriving they were swarmed with personnel rushing them off the Pelican and out of the hangar bay. The hallways were dark except for the red warning lights that bathed everybody in a red glow.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Linda asked trying to stay calm.

"Earth's been attacked and we've been summoned to go help. This might get pretty ugly from the reports that are coming in. It seems the _Trafalgar 2_ and a large group of the Terra defense fleet were engaged and destroyed. It seems there also some new Covenant ships attacking, one of them destroyed Moon Alpha base in one shot."

"I've gotta get in there, I can't sit in a bed and just watch on a view screen. I'm fine, let me get out now," Fred said.

"Shut-up, you're wounded," Linda replied blatantly. The tech that was helping push Fred had a stunned look on his face but didn't say anything.

"So what are we going to go and do?" Linda asked.

"I don't know, I'm just along for the ride." The small group arrived into a private room and they closed the door.

"I'm going to give you some more blood," the tech said immediately. He pulled out an IV and started to give Fred blood. Linda guessed it was hers seeing as she was the only one who had given blood to him. There was a slight jerk and the _Trilon_ entered slipspace with a direct course to Earth.

"I'm going to fight, I don't care if they have to give me a bio-limb, and I'm going to fight Linda." The Tech acted as if he hadn't heard her real name.

"No, I don't want you to go out there and get hurt again. I'm not going to risk it," she stopped and reconsidered. They'd need all the help they could get, especially from a Spartan.

"I'll go ask a doctor and see what they can do," Linda continued. She walked out of the room and tried to find a doctor. All she could find were nurses and other medical bay personnel. After five minutes of walking around she finally located someone who could help her.

"I need your opinion on someone…special. Could you follow me?" The doctor craned his neck then nodded up and down.

"What is it that you need?" he asked as they walked back to Fred's room.

"Well, a Spartan was wounded in combat and had a torn Femoral. He's got a brace that's holding it in place but he can't move his right leg. But we need him, badly." The doctor didn't say anything for a little bit then answered.

"He's probably just got swelling from the surgery and sutures. It should go down within two days without medication. I can give him something that'll help but unfortunately it cause drowsiness but it'll lower the swelling by about three-quarters. After that he should be in good condition."

"Okay, do it, we need him," Linda replied quickly. They reached Fred's room and walked in. The doctor walked up to his leg and started to look at it. Fred glanced at Linda and had a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, it's swelling. I'm going to go get the medication and be right back." Once the doctor was out of earshot Fred spoke.

"What do I need medication for?"

"Your leg, it's just swelling from the surgery and everything they had to do to it," she replied easily.

"So is it going to get my going again?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes and no. It'll lower the swelling incredibly fast, like in a few hours, but you'll be super tired during that time. So pretty much your going to be knocked out for a few hours then you'll be good to go." She could already see Fred was comforted by the fact that he wasn't going to be left alone while everybody got to fight. The doctor walked back in with two needles full of a clear liquid and instantly came up to Fred and injected the fluid into his arm.

"Hmmm, this stuff…is…pretty…fast…" his voice trailed off and his head slumped to the side. The doctor walked up to Linda and spoke in a whisper.

"I gave him an extra dose because of his size and the need to have his leg in good condition. He should be awake by 1700 hours and alert and active by 1800 hours. But just keep him off his legs till tomorrow. He needs to let the sutures seal the skin more." Linda nodded and walked off.


	21. Sacrifices for the Greater Good

Chapter 21: Sacrifices for the Greater Good

            Orbital Defense Ring Alpha, Earth Equatorial Orbit, Sol System

Linda slid up against a wall and looked down the hallway to her left. An Elite roared and fired off his plasma rifle. She ducked back behind the wall and saw the plasma splash off the wall. Her shields flared but didn't lose any of their charge. Across the hallway, Fred slid a new clip into his Battle Rifle and inched toward the corner. He pulled a fiber optic cable out of his backpack and stuck it around the corner. The Elite started to move forward slowly, his mandibles clicking. Fred retracted the cable and gave hand signals to the H.R. troopers in his hallway. Linda followed suit and told them what they were going to do. She looked across the hallway and Fred started to countdown.

Three.

Two.

One. The two Spartans rolled out of the hallway and unloaded with their Battle Rifles. Their three round bursts tore across the Elite and he stopped in his tracks. He tried to raise his weapon but was in paralyzed from the bullets hitting him. The Elite's shield blew off and the 7.62mm bullets punctured his body, blood spraying on the walls and floor behind him. He gave one last roar and fell to the ground, dead. Fred and Linda rolled back into the hallway and reloaded. The small group of Humans had been inserted onto the defense ring to help protect the MAC stations from being attacked. At the moment it was a stalemate. The Humans and Covenant kept reinforcing with just enough to prevent a loss of ground but not enough to tip the tides. For the moment no Covenant were anywhere in their vicinity so they started to move forward. As the group walked past the Elite one of the H.R troopers kicked the Elite in the head; purple blood gurgled out of his mouth. Fred brought up a topographic map of their position and checked where they were. According to the map they were on the middle and only one hallway away from the airlocks.

"We need to head toward the airlocks and hold the Covenant off there. Or…we could blow the complex and just seal it off."

"We shouldn't do that," a young H.R. said, "What if we need to get reinforcements in through this sector?"

"I doubt we have anyone we could spare, everybody is staying where we are, no one from the surface is coming up and no one from space is going down unless we've been overrun," Linda replied.

"I guess we'll blow it," Fred said with a small hint of excitement in his voice.

"_Fred, Linda? It's Will, I'm heading toward your position with some ODSTs in tow I'll call back when we're nearer."_

"Good to hear from you Will. Don't worry if you hear an explosion. We're going to blow an airlock the Covenant are using to board," Fred replied.

"_Affirmative, too bad I'll miss it. Will over and out." _The group headed off towards the airlocks. They came to within twenty feet of the last straight away when they ran into a small group of Covenant. The five Grunts and three Jackals wandered aimlessly down the hallway. The Humans stopped at the corner before them and waited. One of the Heavy Recon soldiers peaked out and pulled a grenade out of his vest and primed it. He peaked again and sprinted across the hallway, tossing the grenade no more than two feet in front of the Covenant. The Grunts squealed and spun around but it was too late. The grenade went off. The Grunts' methane set off a chain reaction killing the whole group. Fred looked down the hallway and peered through the smoke from the grenade and looked at all of the blood and unidentifiable body parts then looked at the trooper.

"Nice job," he said, and then headed towards the airlocks.

"_Was that the airlocks going off?_" Will asked.

"Nope, that was a grenade, we're almost to the airlocks right now."

_"Got it." _Fred looked at the four airlocks. Red, purple, and blue blood covered the walls.  The first group of marines tried to hold them off but we unable to. He looked to his left and saw a marine with a plasma burn across his chest. Fred grabbed his dog tags quickly.

Garnet, Kyle, Garnet, 172526- b.2528.

Hearing a noise behind him Fred spun around and brought his rifle to bear. He peered into the shadows but didn't see anything. Fred turned on his flashlight and scanned the dark hallway. Something brown and gray lunged at Fred and through him to the ground. A pair of strong arms grabbed at his throat and started to choke him.

"Help…me…_now,_" he managed to say. Fred opened his eyes and saw what had hit him. A Brute. The creature had pinned his hands down with its knees and was straddling his stomach, forcing every ounce of strength to pop his neck. Fred caught a glimpse of something shimmer in the air and saw a combat knife lodged into it's should. His shields blew away and he felt the hands tighten around his neck. He heard the rattle of gunfire in the background but he was close to unconsciousness and it didn't register. Purple blood sprayed all over Fred but the blackness closed in around him and he finally went unconscious.

            Linda slapped another round into her rifle and continued to fire. The Brute started to slam Fred's body against the floor and immediately lost interest in him. He got up and gave an ear splitting roar. She raised her rifle and brought the Brute's head into her sights and fired controlled shots. The rounds hit the armored plate on his head but did nothing to stop him. The Brute bent over and picked up his weapon, a grenade launcher of sorts. He fired and the blue-ish green plasma flew past them and tore a hole in the wall behind them.

"Back! Get behind the corners!" Linda ordered. All but one of the troopers listened and fell back. The one who didn't was the trooper who had killed the Covenant with his grenade. He fumbled for his combat knife and tossed it at the Brute. The knife lodged itself into the Brute's chest but, again, did nothing to stop him. The trooper started to fire his rifle again. Round after round hit it's body but he didn't even flinch.

"GET! BACK!" Linda yelled but he didn't listen. The Brute, fed up with him, lowered his weapon and fired. Linda looked away as the Heavy Recon trooper's upper body disintegrated. His lower body and legs were five feet away from where he had been hit. She knew they couldn't keep fighting like this so she decided to do something risky. Pulling out her S2 sniper rifle, she nestled it against her shoulder and leaned out into the hallway. She brought the Brute's head into her sights and fired. The sabot round impacted an inch below the head plate. She quickly fired another round and it impacted in the mouth of the Brute, his neck exploding. The huge body fell to the ground with a muted thump and the group ran to Fred, but not before Linda picked up the Brute's weapon for later use. She slid to ground on her knees and instantly pulled Fred's helmet off. Linda also pulled hers off and put her cheek near Fred's mouth. She didn't feel anything and turned to the troopers.

"Watch around here, there might be more Covenant." The trooper nodded and started to tell the Heavy Recon soldiers where to go. Linda pulled a small earpiece out and inserted it into her ear and tried to get a hold of Will.

"Will! Will! God Damnit Will, respond!!!" She yelled.

"_I'm here, what's wrong?" _He responded.

"It's Fred, he's not breathing! Where the hell are you?"

"_I can see some of the troopers right now, I'm almost there. Start CPR on him now, I'll see if I can get an evac," _he said trying to calm her. Linda obeyed and started to remove his chest armor. Once it was off she started chest compressions, then followed it with mouth to mouth. She felt a touch on her shoulder and knew Will had arrived. He proceeded to take his helmet off and also put an earpiece in.

"This is Spartan Oh-Four-Three requesting an immediate dustoff for a critical, potentially fatal, wound. I'm sending location info to all ships within range of this transmission." He looked down and watched as Linda kept giving him chest compressions. Will took his right gauntlet off and checked Fred's pulse. He felt a bump on his fingers.

"Linda, only mouth-to-mouth, he's got a pulse," he said with his hand on her arm. She nodded and began mouth-to-mouth. With no reply for an evac Will tried to get a hold of someone again.

"Damnit, it's to messed up out there for anybody to worry about one wounded person," Will said with despair in his voice. But right as he said that Fred coughed and started to choke and then vomited to the side.

"Fred? Are you okay?" Linda asked quickly. He nodded but didn't say anything or open his eyes.

"Hey, somebody's coming! Looks like a medic!" A trooper yelled. Will rocked back on his knees and saw a marine run up with red crosses on her armor.

"I got your call, what's wrong?" She asked calmly. The medic looked at Will but he shook his head.

"He was attacked by that thing," Linda replied pointing towards the Brute.

"Okay, I'm going to check him over for any broken bones." The medic pulled out a handheld x-ray and hooked it up to a small screen. She started to scan Fred's body starting from the feet. When she reached his pelvis area she stopped and her shoulders sagged. The medic looked up but didn't say anything.

"His back is broken. From what I can see, he'll probably never walk again." Linda looked at Fred who didn't respond. She started to cry and grabbed Fred's hand. Will ran his unarmored hand through his hair and wiped the sweat away. As they sat there was jerk and Will checked the airlocks' status'. The Covenant troops were going to use them to get through. They had about two minutes total before the Covenant would get through.

"Take the Lotus mines and set them for remote detonation," Fred said quietly. Will obeyed and grabbed the mines and started to place the ten mines. It then dawned on Linda what he was going to do.

"Fred don't, we'll get you to the _Trafalgar_ and we'll get you healed up."

"I'm going to go down with as many Covenant sons of a bitches, and, if you ever find John. Do whatever you have to do to get him back on our side." Linda nodded and wiped the tears off her face. Will placed the final mine and handed Fred the detonating switch and then helped prop Fred up. Fred grimaced but didn't make a sound.

"Set my suit for self destruct, give it a minute. Whatever comes first, the Covenant, or me, this place is going to blow." Will hooked his gauntlet into place and sealed his helmet. The medic and two Spartans jogged away from Fred. They reached the end of the hallway and stopped. There was a banging as the doors were broken down. Then the bulkhead doors started to slide down in front of them. Through the glass they saw Elites standing around Fred and then it disappeared in a wall of flame and molten metal that stopped instantly in the vacuum. The medic walked away and didn't see Linda fall against Will and cry.


	22. Pandora's Curiosity

Chapter 22: Pandora's Curiosity

Orbital Defense Ring Alpha, Fall Back Position Zulu, Earth Equatorial Orbit, Sol System

The second to last escape pod pushed away from the docking bay and headed to the nearest UNSC vessel at full speed. The last pod sat with its engines warm. At the touch of a button it would fire away like the rest had. Two humans waited at it peaking down the main outer hallway. All along the hallway plasma scores and blood from different species covered the walls. Most of the lights were out; the ones that did work sat flickering. A jolt forced one of the humans out of their trance and they pulled their Battle Rifle closer to their shoulder.

"_Fall back position Zulu? You copy?" _

"Yes we copy, what direction?" one of them responded.

_"Unknown, we got caught up…" _there was a pause, "_took some casualties and have been trying to locate an escape pod since then. We're approaching the main hallway now, just the direction isn't clear." _

"We'll hold our fire to ID targets." Another male voice came over, stronger.

"_ This is Spartan Oh-Four-Three. My topo map shows us arriving about hundred meters in front of your position. For that distance we'll be in need of some cover fire so we can make it to you safely. How many of there are you?" _One of the Humans shot a glance to its partner. _Spartans, _they both thought.

"There are two of us here, we've got a pod warmed up and ready for you to arrive," one responded. Almost at the same moment they finished a small group of Humans exited a hallway and sprinted directly to the pod station. A few seconds later two Spartans emerged and cautiously checked behind them before jogging towards Zulu. They did a final check before entering the small room. One of them bumped into a Heavy Recon soldier who was frozen in his place. The Spartan looked at what he was staring at and paused. It's head cocked to the side a tad before extending a hand.

"Oh-Four-Three here, that's Oh-Five-Eight over there. What's your designation?" he asked.

"Nine-Five-Two, and Five-Oh-One," the one who replied removed their helmet, "Chris and Kat, and you're Will and Linda. We were under the assumption that there were three Spartan-IIs on this mission."

"Not now, this ring is losing its integrity. We'll talk in the pod," Will replied tersely. The group obliged and moved into the last pod.

"None of those tags are coming up on my roster, Linda, I don't know who these Spartans are."

"I'm trying to do a background check on the tags but its classified information. Whoever they are, we aren't supposed to know who they are," Linda replied. She glanced quickly out the main window and watched the Covenant and Human ships duke it out. A Longsword bomber dropped down in front of them then quickly peeled off to attack the tear dropped Seraph fighters.

"So, I was under the impression we were being reinforced by _three _Spartan- IIs. But there are only two of you, did the third join another group?" Linda was standing in front of Chris facing the window. She spun her head to face him and stared at him.

"You mean to tell me you didn't hear _any _of the comm. transmissions?"

"No, Ma'am, I didn't," he replied innocently.

"Well, the third Spartan is dead, go look out the rear window and you'll see why," she replied coldly. Chris listened and looked out the rear window. His eyes caught sight of the huge hole in the ring and turned around.

"What happened," asked the other Spartan, Kat.

"His back was broken and he took out a whole Covenant boarding party with Lotus mines," Will replied, "But I have a question for you, who are you? I have no records of your existence." Chris turned around and looked at Kat. Will traced his eyes as they darted back and forth. Will heard the rustle of the marines behind him but didn't take notice.

"Tell me who you are, now," he said dangerously. Again, no one said anything.

"We're Spartan-IIIs, only about a hundred were trained and currently only five, including us, remain," Kat said quietly. Her voice had a melodic tone to it; it wasn't battle hardened and coarse, yet not innocent. She removed her helmet and let her shoulder length hair fall down. Will looked into her cool blue eyes. They were distant; they'd seen too much death for their young age.

"How old are you?" Will asked Kat directly.

"I'm twenty eight, you?" She was cunning. Will just shook his head and gave a slight shrug. Chris walked away from the window and slipped past Will and Kat.

"What ship are we heading too?" He asked to no one in particular. Linda stood next to the control consol and slowly nodded her head.

"We're heading for the _Pandora's Box,_" she said out loud.

"I don't know of any UNSC ship with that name…" a marine interjected.

"It's not a UNSC ship," Kat replied. Filling up the main veiwport was the last functional Covenant Planet Killer. All around it Human ships were maneuvering to surround it.

"Oh…God…Oh…God…" a marine said while beginning to hyperventilate.

"It's plasma turrets were brought off line by a lucky MAC shot. With all of the UNSC ships moving around it, even the Covenant can't jump," Linda continued, "We're going to try and get on board relatively undetected, hundreds off escape pods and Pelicans are going to be launched at it in the hopes that we can get on board it. Hold on we're going inside of Pandora's Box, the place of all our evils."


	23. Conspiracy Theory

Chapter 23: Conspiracy Theory

Earth, Sol System

"Brace!" Will yelled. Their escape pod's reverse thruster kicked in and started to slow their ascent into one of the many hangar bays throughout _Pandora's Box. _A Seraph fighter came straight at them on a collision then thought twice and peeled away. Their cover was holding Two seconds later the pod entered the hangar and immediately dropped to the floor. Sparks flew against the front window as the pod slowed down. Luckily the hangar was larger than normal so they supposedly had ample room for deceleration; but the group wasn't a believer.

"Hold on to something, this'll be rough!" Will and Linda got onto opposite walls, sat on the floor and braced with their legs. Kat and Chris quickly followed suit. One last glance by Will confirmed their fears. The pod slammed into the wall in a shower of sparks and screeching metal. A marine who didn't have his restraints tight enough was thrown forward but will grabbed him and put him between himself and the other seats. Once the pod stopped moving Will stood up and looked out of what remained of the front section. They were pointing towards the hangar entrance. All around Engineers were floating around repairing parts of the floor and making sure none of the Banshees and Seraph fighters that were one the bay floor were damaged.

"Okay, we need to move, fast, but is anyone injured?" All but one of the Heavy Recon shook their heads.

"I think I might have some broken ribs, but it shouldn't be that bad," he replied. Will didn't know what to do. To have him stay behind would be suicide if a large group of Covenant came to inspect, but to have him come with them would slow them down and could potentially exacerbate his wounds.

"It's your choice on what you want to do, just be warned. Staying here might be a death sentence where as coming with us could make it worse and you could slow us down if it gets worse."

"I'll throw it back to you sir, I might've just pulled some stomach muscles, but I can still fight," the H.R. replied.

"You'll come with us, we don't know what we'll be facing," Will concluded, "Okay, get your weapons and gear together, we're in a bad spot here." Will grabbed his Battle Rifle, his Magnum, and two SMGs along with a backpack full of ammo and grenades.

"I'm going to go out and do a quick check of the surroundings," Linda said.

"No, I'll do it," replied Kat. Before Linda could respond Kat started to become a shadow and then was only a slight shimmer in the air. She moved outside and disappeared from view.

"ONI techs have mastered and improved on the Elites' light refracting generators. There is almost no distortion where the person is and the thermal register is greatly reduced," Chris explained, " It's the Mark IV armor just with the active camo, it was just finished before Earth was attacked, that's why you don't have it."

"Is there anything else new?" Will asked amazed.

"Not really, just some program tweaks, and some design changes to be a little more comfortable." Linda looked him over and saw some of the changes. All of the joints seemed to have a little more padding with them and weren't as sharp. Kat reappeared and gave her report.

"I only saw engineers throughout the hangar, save for a small group of Grunts that didn't seem to interested in our pod."

"Okay, lets move then." Will and Chris took the lead and started to move around their pod. A few engineers gave quick glances at them but returned to their work. The group of four Spartans and five Marines headed to a large door directly to their left.

"Wait, I want to see what the Seraphs are like on the inside, we might be able to capture one to escape," Chris said. Will saw no harm in it and headed to the nearest Seraph. The teardrop shaped craft was larger than he originally thought. It had three circular engines protruding from the rear with a small dorsal fin extending half way down the engines. From the engines the craft bulged out into a disk like passenger area. On the front were four of the plasma cannons that the Banshees and Ghosts had. All of the Humans except for Will went inside the Seraph. Then he remembered something, like it was an air bubble that had come to the surface and popped. Scholars were had this theory that the Covenant had already visited Earth starting at the Twentieth century to modern day. He searched for "Roswell". Instantly a picture of a craft definitely non-human came up. The only thing was; it was an almost exact carbon copy of the Seraph fighter. Three engines, a dorsal fin, and circular front, everything was the same as the Seraph he was looking at in front of him. Will had a hard decision to make, if he broadcasted the find it would tell the Covenant that their ships had been infiltrated. But if there was some unknown data from the five hundred year old Seraph that they could use either for their technology or against the Covenant they needed to know.

"Chris, do you have the information you need? Yes or no?"

"Yeah, I've got video of it and-."

"Transfer it to me now, the fleet has just got some new info. I'll explain later."

"Ok, it's done." Will instantly opened up a channel on FLEETCOM: 7 and broadcasted.

"This is Spartan- Oh-Four-Three aboard the Covenant Planet Killer _Pandora's Box. _Upon infiltrating the vessel, we have gotten important information on the Covenant fighter, nicknamed 'Seraph'…"

Rear Admiral Atonson looked down to his main comm. terminal aboard heavy carrier _Redemption. _The only reason he was paying attention to it was because a Spartan was hailing every single Human vessel around Earth.

"_Upon infiltrating the vessel, we have gotten important information on the Covenant fighter, nicknamed 'Seraph', Covenant name, unknown. I'm streaming video that was taken by Spartan- Nine-Five-Two, a Spartan-III, only moments ago. The Seraph seems to have three structural weaknesses. The first is where the engines join the cabin area. The second is a heat exhaust under the engines, that, if hit, would cause an explosive decompression. The third is the main cockpit veiwport, which has unreinforced sides, potentially causing an explosive decompression." _

Atonson looked at the holo-projector and saw a Seraph float around and then three orange squares showing the weak areas.

"_After further examination I found a haunting similarity to an alien vessel found almost, to the year, five hundred years ago in Roswell, in the former state of New Mexico. The Covenant has been here _before. _Harvest was not our first encounter with them." _The Spartan paused, the Rear Admiral knew why too. Atonson looked out and watched the battle, except something was wrong. The Covenant had stopped their attack. Some of the crew around him spun around in their chairs and were looking out the main window.

"_We started this war. American fighter planes shot down, and killed the first contact with the Covenant, which they took as an act of war. I am going to broadcast live video feed of the Covenant Planet Killer _Pandora's Box _as we assault and take control of it. Once we have control, we will be transmitting every piece of data that we can find to UNSC vessels. Stand-by for transmissions, Oh-Four-Three, over and out." _


	24. In the Hands of the Traitor

Chapter 24: In the Hands of the Traitor

Covenant Planet Killer _Pandora's Box_,

Linda peeked out into the main hallway and raised her sniper rifle with its suppressor and sighted an Elite walking. She got his head in her sights and held it still. Linda grabbed the bolt and quietly slid it back and then let it slide forward. But at the last second it got out of her fingers and clicked into place. The Elite held its breath but didn't turn around. He cocked his head a little bit and then continued to breathe normally. The Spartan brought the Elite's head back into focus and fired a shot. A quiet _thwack _followed. The bullet hit its mark tearing the Elite's head open. Purple blood splashed onto the floor and walls of the ship as the dead body fell to the floor with a muted thump.

"Oly Oly Oxen Free," she called out quietly. Three Spartans emerged from hallways ahead of her and covered the main one. She got up and brought her rifle up scanning down the long corridor. At the end she spotted their objective; the gravity lifts up through the command pylon to the brig. All around the lifts were the small portable plasma shields in an overlapping pattern. Something caught her eye and she saw a Grunt had peeked its head out from the corner of the hallway to her left.

"I've got one Grunt, most likely more with some Elites commanding," she reported.

"_Roger, I'm looking at some schematics of the ship and it looks like there is a maintenance hallway directly to your right. It should lead you…above actually_," Chris replied.

"_How'd you get the schematics_?" asked Will.

"_AI, sister of Cortana actually, sent with Chief Mendez_," he replied.

"_I wish I had known about this, but we've been rushing this, see if there is another route for us to take. Linda, you come in from behind and do what you can until we come in_," Will reported.

"Got it, moving now." Linda spotted the hallway and moved to it, she got inside but had to deactivate her shield. Slowly creeping along she arrived to a small ladder and started to climb up. The fifteen-foot rise would give her enough space to dangle out of the maintenance way and, hopefully, be undetected. She slowly crouched out towards the hatch and pulled out some of the high strength cord and wrapped it around a small conduit and then around her right leg. Linda again slowly crawled forward and took the hatch off. Slowly dropping down she was about twenty feet behind the Covenant. Before grabbing her rifle she spotted a Jackal standing almost directly beneath her. Her heart started to beat quickly as she grabbed the Jackal's head and snapped its neck. Linda quietly retracted back into the maintenance pathway and laid its body on the ground. Repeating the process she was hanging again and sighted an Elite in red armor. She fired and watched as the bullet tore a fist-sized hole in his head. Blood splashed across the walls and his comrades. The body slammed into the wall and slid to the ground. Linda quickly primed a grenade and bounced it into the group before escaping back to the passageway. A _thud _reverberated through the passageway as the frag grenade detonated. This time before going back out she checked it with an optic cable to scan the area. Almost all of the Covenant had been killed, save for an Elite that was missing an arm, a few Grunts who were to the side, and two Jackals who had used their shields to protect from the shrapnel. Linda just gave herself enough slack to put her waist at the edge of the hatch before bending over and firing a round at the Elite. Once she fired the other Spartans emerged from a maintenance hatch next to the gravity lifts. Erupting from the doorway was the staccato firing of SMG's, which tore apart the remaining Covenant. Linda unhooked herself and dropped down.

"We need to move fast, we have to get up these lifts before they lock them all down. Grab some of those shields in case they have a welcoming party," Will ordered. The group grabbed the shields and arranged them on the lift in the same overlapping pattern as they were originally in. Chris pressed on the console and felt the lift start to rise.

"The infidels have taken control of one of the lifts and are coming right now. Shall we lock them down and depressurize the lifts?"

"No, send a party of Grunts down to meet them, but let them get here, I want to meet one of them head on."

"Affirmative, sir."

Will heard a quiet squeak of a Grunt and raised his SMG's. The Lift stopped and he saw the Grunts were set up around five of the plasma shields.

"Three…two…one!" The group of Spartans jumped up and unleashed a withering hail of gunfire on the Grunts. One shot hit the methane tank on their backs and detonated it causing a chain reaction. The few remaining Grunts ran away but were shot down quickly.

"Something's up, if they wanted to stop us, they wouldn't use _Grunts_," Chris said with a hint of disgust in his voice.

"You're right, twenty Elites would've done more than twenty Grunts," Will replied, "But we have a break so we might as well expose it. Are there any other hatchways that would lead into the bridge?"

"They all converge into one, but there is one that would most likely be lightly or even not guarded. But we wouldn't be able to fit with our armor."

"I'll do, I'll strip down and go in. I'll cause a distraction until you can in," Kat said.

"It's too dangerous, we'll just find another way in." But it was too late, Kat had already started to take her armor off. She walked over to a door to their left and checked the room inside of it. After about two minutes she was down to the skin tight under suit that had the crystalline layer for AI's. Linda handed her the sniper rifle and extra ammo. Chris gave her the directions to go and she headed into the maintenance hatch on her stomach.

Kat arrived at the hatch and looked into the bridge. To her right was the gargantuan view port for the ship. To her left were consoles being manned by Elites and Grunts. The room had to be at least sixty feet wide and a hundred feet long. She brought the scope up to her face and felt the cold steel against her slightly bronzed cheek. In the background she kept hearing portions of a conversation in English but couldn't pinpoint what they were saying. Putting it aside she potted an Elite that was standing at a raised platform in the center of the command consoles. She put his head in her sights but held her fire. The conversation was more pronounced and she started to listen intently.

"The four of them are waiting outside of this door. If you want to live I suggest you stay in here until they decide to enter. Until then you will wait and continue to guard this door." Whoever was speaking knew English amazingly well and didn't have the typical warbling and throaty sound of an Elite speaking.

"I will wait, your Excellency, but I am disgraced at not being able to attack the infidels. But I want to be the first to attack them when they enter." The second voice was definitely an Elite. Kat tried to lean out and see who was talking but only saw a black shape with gold trimming on it. It was most likely just a high-ranking Elite. But when the Elite started to walk it turned out that it wasn't an Elite. It was the Master Chief. He quickly walked toward the view port before pulling out a plasma sword handle and powering it up. The blueish purple blade erupted from it and coalesced into a shimmering sword. The Chief started to walk towards where Kat was hiding. She started to slide back but the Chief swung his sword down and cut the hatch in half. He reached in and pulled her out by her neck.

"Who is this? You're new," he said. Kat stared at him with her cold blue eyes, "I didn't know the Spartans could be this beautiful. Except of course for Linda," he said glancing behind. Kat gave a glance behind her and saw another Spartan standing in the rear with modified Mark V armor on.

"You're my bargaining tool for when your friends arrive."


	25. Fight of Souls

Chapter 25: Fight of Souls

Covenant Planet Killer _Pandora's Box_

Will pulled out his fiber optic cable and tried to fit it under the bulkhead door but it wouldn't fit.

"We're blind and Kat isn't responding. We can wait here or storm the bridge without any kind of idea of their strength," he said. Chris and Linda didn't say anything.

"This is Will, you responding?"

"_Affirmative, sir, the hangar is still clear for the moment. The Seraph is warmed up and waiting for you to come back,_" responded the Marine.

"Hold tight for the time being, over and out." Will pulled his backpack off and checked to see what they had left to use. One Lotus mine, ammo for his Battle Rifle and SMGs, an extra grenade, and a clip for his pistol.

"What've you got?" he asked.

"Same as you, we could use some ammo but it'll take forever to get back down and get some more. I doubt that the Lotus would be enough to crack the door too. But I think it's unlocked, there is that white glow around it," replied Chris. Will looked up at it and saw the glow.

"I've got an idea…" he said, trailing off. He pulled the Lotus out and looked at it's settings, "I'm gonna put this on a ten second fuse and throw it ahead of us. It'll kill whatever is in front of us and hopefully stun the rest. But as he pulled the Lotus out both Linda and Chris opened fire. He turned around and saw an Elite slide to the ground leaving a streak of blood on the wall. Chris walked over to it and grabbed something off its belt and fired two more rounds into its chest.

"What is it?" Linda asked.

"I think this would be a Covenant Plasma Sword." Chris held the silver cylinder object in his hands and then handed it to Will.

"Thanks, this could come in handy. Apparently it still works when it wasn't in his hand. Okay, Linda, you're on that side," he said pointing to the right side, "Chris that one," pointing to the left, "I'm gonna toss this when one of you opens the door. If you see any of them on the sides open fire on them, cause they know we'll be coming." Chris and Linda nodded and Fred charged the mine…

Muffled gunshots reverberated through the huge door and caused some of the Grunts to stop working. The Master Chief just looked out of the window at the Covenant fleet slowly tearing the Humans apart. He saw a bright flash and watched as an UNSC ship's reactor detonated. Small areas of red were already appearing on the surface of the Earth as the new Covenant Dreadnoughts slipped through and started their plasma bombardment on the Super MAC generators. At this rate the fleet wouldn't last more that twenty-four hours. It would've gone much faster had the _Second Apocalypse _not been destroyed so fast. But their repairs would begin once the UNSC ships surrounding them were destroyed. The Master Chief turned around in time to watch the doors open up and a small silver object get tossed to the floor. A second later it went off. There was a blinding flash as the mine exploded spraying shrapnel around the command consoles. The Elite he had spoken to earlier was vaporized instantly along with some Grunts unfortunate to be standing so close. Sparks sprayed across the ceiling and onto the floor as the inlayed lights were shattered. The Chief reactivated his sword and started to move toward but was met with gunfire and the ghostly blue of a plasma sword. Through the smoke he saw the Elite at the main console arc his back and fall limp as the blue sword tore through his gut. Purple blood fell to the floor along with a sickening sizzling sound. The blade retracted and the Elite fell to the ground. Emerging from the smoke were three Spartans covered in blue and purple blood.

"That was a very gutsy move you did there. I applaud you, but right now I have someone you might want back." The Chief pushed Kat forward but kept a firm grip on her under suit.

"Kat!" one of them yelled out.

"What is this," the Chief said, unable to contain his anger with his jaws clenched tight, "There are more of you!"

"You! I swear to god! If I get my hands on you there is no measure to how slow and painful your death will be!" Linda yelled out.

"Hardly, I have so much more power than you could ever imagine. I –will-crush-you." At that the Chief shoved Kat to ground, tearing a section of her suit off revealing her bronzed flesh, and lunged at Will. Will reacted quickly and bent backwards launching the Chief over his stomach. He spun around and started to parry the Chief's blows from his sword. The two slowly walked backwards toward towards the main window. One of the Chief's blows tagged Will's shields causing them to flare up. The Chief kept forcing him back towards the wall not making a single sound. Will suddenly dodged to the left giving him the upper hand. He proceeded to violently attack the Chief forcing him back quickly. He made another unexpected move by ducking down and ramming his shoulder into the Chief's stomach. John flew backwards into the view port and planted his feet on it. A blue glow emanated from within his visor.

"This is a small measure of my power," he said, his voice twisted and warped. Instantly he shoved off and flew threw the air into Will. The Chief grabbed his shoulders and started to flip over Will's back. His enemy was taken of his feet and thrown to the ground on his stomach. The Chief brought the Plasma Sword up and was about to spear Will in the back but was brought to the ground by Kat. But before anybody could react blackness enveloped the bridge. But this wasn't a shadow. The _Pandora's_ slipspace generator had been activated. A door to the side of the view port opened up and Elites filed out to apprehend the infidels. The Chief got up looked all along the floor were plasma scoring from Will's and his' fight. The only light in the room was from the glowing portions of the Elites' and Spartans' armor and the two plasma swords.

" Kelly, get these lights working again. I'm tired of the darkness," the Chief ordered.

"Right away," she responded and walked back through the door she had entered from. One of the Elites walked up to him and began to speak.

"The infidels in the hangar have been exterminated along with their primitive vehicle confiscated. Right now we are conducting a thorough search of the ship before exiting slipspace."

"Excellent, keep me updated on what you find. And don't let them out of your sight, they are incredibly dangerous," he said, referring to the Spartans. The Elite nodded and walked back to the other Elites.

Hiding in a small maintenance hatch was Private First Class Traufman. He held his Battle Rifle leveled at the only entrance into the hatchway that he could find. Traufman was leaning up against and enormous amount of equipment. SPNKr Rocket Launchers, bags of grenades and ammo, cases of rockets, a small pile of weapons. Through his small earpiece he could hear everything that was going on. Then he heard something that piqued his interest. The Covenant had captured the Spartans and had executed his comrades. Traufman was that last free human and he would stay put to be the Spartans' armory when, or if, they were able to escape. But for the meantime he would have to deal with the Covenant and their head hunt for him.


	26. Survive, Evade, Escape

Chapter 26: Survive, Evade, Escape...

_Pandora's Box_, Slipspace

Will and the rest of the Spartans walked down a dimly lit hallway to what appeared to be a single door. All around them were heavily armed Elites. Will filtered out the ambient noises and listened to the Elites' heartbeats and breathing patterns. As they reached the door they started to slow and calm.

"Hit the Elites to your sides and grab their Carbines, I'll get one of the ones behind me." He got two acknowledgment lights and waited till they were a little bit closer. He clicked his mic twice and lunged at the Elite to his left and slammed him into the wall. He quickly grabbed his Carbine and fired three shots into its gut. Blood splattered against the wall and on Will as he moved on to the next Elite. Within thirty seconds, all of the Elites had been killed or incapacitated.

"What should we do now?" asked Chris.

"I think we should get to the equipment point and hide out until the ship leaves slipspace," Will suggested. But before they could there was a jolt that rippled throughout the huge craft.

"They must have a second bridge somewhere inside the ship," Chris stated.

"We need to move, I have a hunch we just exited slipspace." The Spartans left the bridge and ran into Kat who had finished putting her armor back on.

"Come on, we need to move," Will ordered, "But how'd you get out?"

"Apparently they thought I was dead or something, this armor is really uncomfortable without out the back part of my under suit though," she replied, moving her shoulders back and forth. They arrived at the lift and activated it.

"Thanks God it's working," Chris commented. The lift dropped and they felt their stomachs rise a little bit.

"Crap, we've got planetary gravity, this isn't good," Linda stated. Will nodded and started to scan around them as the lift started to slow.

"To the right and down about a klick, haul ass people, we don't have time to be cautious." Will received three acknowledgement lights and the sprinted away at full speed. Corridors flashed past in a blur as they moved at top speed. An unlucky Grunt walked into Chris' way and he was promptly slammed into the nearest wall. Up ahead Will saw a UNSC tag appear on his HUD so he started to slow.

"Spartan Oh-Four-Three inbound, Private."

"_Thank God you're coming, a lot of Covenant have been coming by here. I think they're getting off," _Traufman said, relief in his voice was obvious.

"We're in front of the hatch now, hold your fire." Will opened the hatch and saw the marine lying against all of the ammo and equipment.

"Nice to see you again," he said.

"Good, but we need to move as much of this as possible," Will said with almost no emotion.

"I don't think I can, sir. My ribs are so stiff and feel like knives stabbing me whenever I breathe."

"We can't stay, the Covenant are evacuating the ship. We need to get off also." The marine turned his head but didn't say anything. Will had to make another hard decision.

"You stay here and if we're able to get back we'll come straight for you. Just keep that on and you can here everything that is going on," Will said, referring to his earpiece. The marine nodded and tried to help hand them their equipment. It took about five minutes to load up with as much as they could carry. Will carried a SPNKr attached to his back along with his SMGs on his thighs, a Magnum on his in thigh, and carrying his Battle Rifle. Chris was using a Battle Rifle, SMGs, and one of the Carbines they captured, as was Kat. Linda was using her sniper rifle, magnum and Battle Rifle.

"We can't take a gravity lift, nor get to the hangar. What should we do?" Will asked.

"What about those?" Kat asked. Will turned around and saw exactly what she was looking at.


	27. Leap of Faith

Chapter 27: Leap of Faith

_Pandora's Box_, Location Unknown…

The door in front of the Spartans slid open silently revealing grayish white clouds. Will took one last step before plummeting out of the ship. Purple metal flew past him as he brought his legs and arms tight against his body. He gave a slight look backwards and saw three other sage green shapes flying after him. Below and behind him was what looked like a huge troop barge. Three gravity lifts were connected to the barge and black shapes were already moving around on it. Will pushed the hordes of Covenant out of his mind and concentrated on the task in front of him. Surviving. He checked his altimeter and it read 40 km but on an alien world you he could never be sure. A sudden sense of vertigo hit him as the clouds started to rush at him.

"Once we get visibility again I want get into Echelon Right." Three acknowledgment lights. Sometimes he missed real voices compared to three blue dots. Will felt the wind start to tug on his equipment but he knew the magnetic clips would hold. Water started to splash off his suit as he fell through the cloud. He gave quick glance back and saw the three blue triangles that were his comrades moving farther and farther away. Will pulled himself out of his dive and spread his arms and legs out, slowing his descent. Suddenly he exited the clouds and saw that he was in the middle of a sandwich. The clouds below him were a lot darker and menacing looking.

"Heads up, we've got a layer of clouds below me that look like a nasty storm."

"_Okay, by the looks of it the light is almost gone," _replied Linda.

"Thanks, speed up to me so that we can enter this together." Right as he finished the other three Spartans fell in around him and matched his speed. He took his right hand and angled it almost vertical and took off in a dive again. If there were a lot of side drafts it was best to blow right past them. The vertigo sensation came back again as he entered the storm cloud. Immediately upon entering it he was buffeted by the winds and rain inside of the cloud. He constantly had to move his arms and legs to counter act the winds and turbulence but it was no use. He started to roll side to side and rock back and forth.

"_Shit_," Will said as he did a 360. Right as he thought he would never leave the cloud he dropped out of it and was looking at something he never expected to see. Below him was a giant megalopolis of purple buildings and the ghostly blue of plasma. It was hard to make out anything in the torrential down pour but he could definitely see something of interest. Near the middle was a building that looked like a cylinder had been cut in half and separated apart. The two parts sat on top of a pyramid like structure that dominated the Covenant skyline.

"_Do you think this is-," _Kat started to ask.

"Yeah, yeah I do," Will cut her off. Will went back to concentrating on the building that was clearly larger than the others and would be the most likely house someone of importance.

"We're heading towards that building over there," he said as he put a nav point on it. He them shifted his body so that he resembled a wing so that with every meter lost he would gain one in distance. He immediately felt the lift and started to hurry towards the building. All of the crafts that were flying around the city were staying away except for one that had dropped down from the clouds and headed straight for it.

"_Wanna bet that's the Chief?_" Linda asked.

"_I will," _replied Chris. A quiet alarm started to whine in Will's ears as he started to reach a low altitude. He grabbed a small cable that was strapped next to waist and yanked on it. A gold sheet sprang from the parachute backpack and created a pocket of air slowing him down quickly. Luckily the now dark sky hid the incredibly shiny, yet incredibly strong material from view. It took about a minute to coast towards the building and see that there were plasma turrets all along a high wall along with what appeared to be Brutes standing atop it. Thankfully the night sky enveloped them and they slipped over unnoticed. About halfway down the two buildings was a landing pad that had a Phantom sitting there. It was the best place to land so that's what they did. The four Spartans landed on the pad and got rid of their parachutes. Each one of them reported that it was clear. Chris and Kat took a knee and started to watch the two walkways leading to the pad while Linda and Will checked inside the Phantom. Seeing that it was clear they came back out to see a startling site. Surrounding the landing pad were brutes with their weapons lowered on them. Standing in front of Chris and Kat was the John and Linda.

"I knew you were going to get here eventually, I just didn't think you'd be this ingenious," the Chief said. The already heavy rain started to fall harder and caused all six of the Spartans' shields to become visible.

"Move them on to the Phantom, we're going to go see the Holy One immediately," Kelly said.

"Where is Dr. Halsey?" Will asked directly.

"I wouldn't know, the last time I saw her was when the Holy One chose me."

"Stop this Holy One bullshit." One of the Brute's gave a roar and was about to fire. But a blue glow circled him and he fell to the floor. Will looked at the Chief and saw a blue circle around him that was blocking the rain. '

"Insubordination will not be tolerated on _all _sides," he said, his voice twisted and warped again, "Load them on now so that we can leave. We are setting in motion things that have not happened for thousands of years."


	28. Träume des Meeres

Chapter 28: Träume des Meeres

Covenant Brig, Forbidden City, All other info unknown…

Will opened his eyes and jerked up right as he felt for his armor. All he had on was his black under suit. He looked around and saw that he was in a small cell made out of a white marble about ten by ten feet. In front of him was a pulsing blue shield that looked like waves moving back and forth. Next to him was a small raised platform with a hole. He rubbed his eyes and saw Kat sitting up against the wall of his cell across the room.

"Hey," she called out quietly. Will grunted and slid back to mirror Kat. "You've been sleeping for a while."

"I feel like I was hit by a Warthog," he responded.

"Yeah, they were pretty rough with us. Not sure what they poked us with but whatever it was it hurts," she replied, slowly massaging her thigh.

"Are we the only ones in here?"

"I think so, don't want us to team up I guess." When she finished there was a deep rumbling as the wall to their left split and then retracted away. An Elite in gold armor along with two more in red walked in and took their places as they changed shifts. Will swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stood up. His legs were shaky but he was able to keep his balance. He walked over to the edge of the shield and put his hands on it. Red energy pulsed around his finger tips as he put the pressure of his fingers against the energy. But Will knew it was useless to try and break out, even if he was able to bring the shield down, namely because of the fact that he had no weapons and would be cut down by the Elites' plasma rifles. He looked to his left and saw something that startled him. On a platform was an Elite with an energy sword, but behind him were two glass doors. Leading out of them appeared to be a walkway headed towards something he couldn't see. He looked over at Kat who was slowly getting up. She lowered her legs and tried to stand up but had a hard time. Her muscles flexed under her suit but she couldn't manage to get up. Will knocked on the wall and got her attention. He shook his head and then pointed two fingers at his eyes and then pointed towards the door. She leaned out and looked down the other side of the room. Leaning back she walked two fingers over her palm and then had them swoop down and stop on her palm. A walkway towards a landing pad. Again he felt the despair come over him. There was no way that they'd be able to escape without being killed or caught again. Kat saw his despair and sunk down.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay," he said, trying to comfort her. She looked at him and tears were slowly moving down her cheeks.

"Träume des meeres," she said. Will looked at her with a quizzical look on his face.

"Träume des meeres. Dreams of the sea. My mother used to always say it to me when I was a child, kind of a motto of my family. If they're still around…" she said trailing off, "But the last words she said to me were träume des meeres. She said that if I ever got lonely or despaired, dream of the sea and everything would be better. So I'm following her advice," she said, her voice becoming stronger. Kat stood up and looked at the shield. She rubbed her hands along it watching the redness follow it. Quickly she raised her head and looked over at the Elites before turning around.

"What are you doing?" Will asked but received no reply. She tore a chunk of her suit away from her thigh and pulled out a serrated combat knife from a sheath. Kat set it down and tore the bottom her suit's legs off and then proceeded to tear the arms off. This caught the attention of the Elite closest to her and he walked over. He shut the shield off and Kat instantly lunged at him. The knife appeared in the back of his neck as blood poured out of his neck. She grabbed his rifle and started to fire at the other two Elites. Their shields flared and blew off. They both fell to the ground, their wounds smoking. She immediately spun around and fired at the Elite with the sword. One of the plasma bolts struck his right hand and the sword evaporated. He roared with rage but was shut up with a volley of bolts in the face.

"Jesus, why'd you do that?" Will called out.

"Why the hell do you think?!" she replied while shutting his shield down. He walked over to an Elite and grabbed its weapon.

"Dumb Elites, wondering why I was stripping down."

"How far were you willing to go?" Will asked inventively. Kat just looked at him and smiled, her white teeth showing.

"C'mon, we need to move." The two of them ran towards the glass door and out onto the walkway. Outside the rain was coming down in sheets putting a haze around everything. Will squinted into the distance and saw a Phantom sitting on the landing platform in front of them. Something else caught his eye. Being unloaded were four black suits of armor.

"Hey, is that our armor?" Kat asked.

"Mmmhmmm," he replied. The only guards were a small contingent of Grunts who were huddling under the Phantom. Will raised his rifle and started to fire. Plasma splashed against the Grunts who fell quickly. He ran down the walkway and towards the platform. Kat ran past him and up to her armor.

"Shit, the messed with it." Will looked at her and then started to take his armor off.

"We need to get going so we can help Chris and Linda." Kat nodded but something caught her attention. She flared her nose before walking towards the edge of the platform and looking over. Will followed her and saw what she was looking at.

"Träume des meeres," she said slowly. Below them was a deep blue ocean stretching as far as they could see.


	29. The Ancient Ones

Chapter 29: The Ancient Ones

Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Covenant Home world…

"Your Excellency, the campaign on Earth is moving forward a little bit slower than anticipated because of the unfortunate losses of the Planet Killers. But reports are saying that we have secured landing zones and are awaiting the rest of the cruisers and dreadnoughts to drop their payload." The gold Elite had his head almost to the ground as he was reporting the current situation of the battle at Earth.

"Thank-you, I am pleased to learn that our forces are not going to let the infidels defeat us again," the Prophet of Truth said, his underlying meaning not being lost on the Elite. He shook his head, stood up, and walked past the Master Chief. As he passed the Elite gave a low snarl.

"The infidels have been quarantined and are under heavy surveillance," he said when he arrived near the Prophet.

"Good, good, what news of the artifact and the mysterious fog that was surrounding it?" the Prophet asked with anticipation in his voice.

"You mean this?" the Chief outstretched his arm and showed a black gauntlet around it; "It's mine now."

"What!? We have not been able to study it and find its true power."

"I know _exactly _what it does." The Chief pointed to the door and in walked two creatures in armor that was blacked than any abyss. In one of their hands was the head of the Elite who had just left the room. The creatures wore a helmet that covered their faces completely. Three spikes protruded from it and covered their metallic like hair. The shoulder plates rose like two great spires into sharp points that glistened in the bright light of the Sanctum. Two more blades emerged from their shoulders and rose up as if wings. One of the two creatures flicked his wrists and two energy swords materialized, they're humming amplified by the gargantuan room. The other creature dropped the Elite's head to the floor with a wet thump.

"Meet the Ancient Ones. Or as you like to refer to them as, Forerunners. They were geniuses in their technology, but even better at combat. How would it look if your guards returned and saw these two standing over your body? The gods that you so deeply worship are the downfall of the Covenant Hegemony. That won't on one condition. I am given _full _control of the Covenant. _Now."_

"Why are you doing this? I gave you more power than you could imagine, but you want _more!?" _The Prophet spit out, "You have two warriors against the three hundred honor guard. They wouldn't last a second."

"Want to test that? You kill these two with three hundred Elites and you punish me as you wish, if they do survive then you obey my terms." The Prophet lowered his head to his hand and closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitchingly slightly as he thought.

"Alright, I'll do it. If you lose you must relinquish the artifact and suffer a punishment to be determined at a later date."

"Let's do it." The Chief turned around and watched as the two Forerunners turned on their monstrous legs and hunched down, their swords humming with energy. The stone blast doors opened and in walked three hundred Elites in black armor with gold trim. Some started to fire on the Forerunners but their shots were deflected by a blue circle around them. Suddenly the Forerunners leapt at the Elites and started to spin in circles, their blades leaving a faint blue trail behind them. The sound of entrails spilling to the ground was mixed with the loud roaring of the Elites as the vainly tried to outdo and outmaneuver the ancient creatures. Purple blood splashed against the glass walls as torsos were sliced open and head cut off. In less than a minute the three hundred Elites had been reduced to a pile of purple meat and a large puddle of blood. The Chief turned around and looked at the Prophet in the face.

"I believe you just lost." The Prophet's face had lost all of its color and his head slowly rocked under the gravity of what he had just witnessed. His head sank down and the headpiece slowly slid forward. "Again, you lost and we had a deal, if you want to-"

"DO NOT GIVE ME AN ULTIMATUM! I WILL NOT SIT HERE AND WATCH AS MY CREATION SLIPS THROUGH MY FINGERS," as he said that his hand gripped together tightly and he slammed it onto the arm rest of his chair, "I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS INSUBORDINATION!"

"I told you what I wanted and you are now breaking your word. I suggest, for the safety of your life, that you concede and give me control of the Covenant."

"Why!? So that you can dissolve it and safe that god damned Human race? NO! I will not let you!"

"If that is your decision, then you will have to live with it." When the Chief finished he pointed his right arm towards the Prophet and walked away. All he heard was the sound of the energy sword being swung and a crashing sound as the Prophet's headdress fell to the ground. He touched the crystal on the gauntlet and was enveloped in a cloud of black.


	30. Harbinger

Chapter 30: Harbinger

Covenant Home World, Xenocide commencing by Forerunner military…

Will spun around as a blaring alarm started to go off.

"Shit, I think they know we've escaped," Kat said. She picked up a confiscated plasma pistol while Will grabbed his plasma rifle. They crouched for what seemed like hours before realizing the alarm wasn't about them.

"We need to move back inside, I think something is going on," Will said quietly. He stood up and ran over to the glass door but it didn't open. But it did open when his foot slammed through it, glass scattering to the floor in a spray of water. The two Spartans walked in and headed towards the blast door directly in front of them. This door did open and revealed a hallway illuminated by red flashing lights.

"Jeez, what's happening, do you think Linda and Chris could be causing hell?" Kat asked.

"No…" Will replied slowly. He saw Kat look over at him but he kept staring down the hallway.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, putting her arm around his shoulder. Will's legs started to fell weak and he started to get a sense of vertigo. Suddenly there was a flash of an image in his mind. A large black creature was standing in the rain and suddenly looked at him, its eyes the color of flames. He fell down but propped himself up with his plasma rifle.

"What's wrong, Will?" she asked softly, but Will didn't here it. Inside his head was a voice speaking to him as if next to him.

_What is it that makes you fight for the Humans? They always told us that we were the best of the best. But you never saw them trust us. We were always freaks to them. They never thought that the Covenant would find Earth. They never thought this day would come. But what are they saying now? What? That it was bound to happen sooner or later. Maybe if we had one more week, one more day, one more hour thing would've been different. But think about it, even when we got that extra week, day, or hour, things were always the same. Well guess what, the Humans will now have a new enemy to fight. Not the Covenant, those weaklings were driven by false hopes and wishful thinking, but now they're gone and the Humans are all that are left. But unfortunately they have a power within them that has never been tapped. Until we were created. We are the most powerful soldiers in the galaxy. More so than the Forerunner soldiers. Once you learn that I will be waiting for you here. But one last word of wisdom: Why were you created? We are like a dam with leaks in it. We might be able to hold back the water for a long time, but not forever._

Will opened his eyes and saw that he was propped up against the stone walls with his helmet off. Kat was sitting against the opposite staring at him. Her eyes were red and sweat was covering her face.

"What did he say to you?" Will asked sternly.

"_He? He _didn't ask me anything. She asked me what I would do to save the Humans. She replied saying that it wasn't true and that there was one thing that I would do. But I don't want to do it." She cocked her head and gave a small smile. "Ever get the feeling that whatever the hell you do, no one gives a shit? Like all they care about is the _god damned bottom line!" _She screamed, throwing her helmet at the blast doors. Will let his head sink down to his chest plate and took a deep breath.

"I felt like that in the beginning. Like even if destroying a Covenant cruiser wasn't enough to get a real pat on the back, not one to make you feel good for five seconds until you saw their underlying motives. Let it pass, you'll start to see that death is the only way to see the full gratitude that you'll receive trust me. But I want to know what you're supposed to do to save the Humans."

"I don't know what; she said I knew what it is. I was told also that we are more powerful then we could ever imagine. But what the hell, did you know that there are more than us four Spartans? We haven't had the time but there is a whole company on their way from the training facility on Harvest II. We were sent ahead to try and hold them off before the Covenant attacked. They should be arriving there…assuming Earth is still there." Will only quickly lifted his eyebrows before looking down the hallway. Something caught his eye and he leaned out more trying to see what they were. He raised his rifle and was about to fire but stopped when he heard a six tone whistling sound.

_Oly-oly-oxen-free _


	31. Apostate

Chapter 31: Apostate

Covenant Home World, Xenocide commencing by Forerunner forces…

"Will, it's good to see you," Linda said, her voice was quiet and weary. She popped her helmet off and walked over to Will. She brought her face close to his and spoke into his ear, her warm breath tickling it.

"Did John try and talk to you?"

"Yeah, some spiel about being more than just warriors, and how we're greater than we could ever imagine," he replied, clearly annoyed.

"Alright, "she said and swallowed hard, "We need to try and get out of this place before those other guys find us. We watched them fight and they tore an Elite apart in no time." Will shook his head slowly and watched as Linda stared at Kat and Chris. They were both holding each other in their arms, whispering to each other.

'C'mon, we need to move now," Linda said loudly. Will bent down and picked up his helmet and put it on. The four Spartans walked back into the brig and out onto the landing platform.

"Man did we luck out," Linda said. The group walked to the rear and into the Phantom. Will and Linda sat down in the two pilot seats and, by pure intuition, started the Phantom up. The craft lifted off the platform spraying water in all directions, a low rhythmic pulsing speeding up as the engines warmed.

"One thing, how exactly are we supposed to get off the planet, let alone to Earth?' Kat asked.

"Whoever said we're going to get away with this thing. There is a perfectly good capital ship waiting for us," Will responded as he threw his hand forward on the holographic throttle. The Phantom lurched forward and settled into a low hum as it zipped past tall white stone buildings and through the heavy rain. He sifted his hand on the control orb and put the Phantom into a steep climb and up through the rain laden clouds. Heavy turbulence rocked the craft as it slowly poked through the clouds. Suddenly the gray-black clouds parted and they were blinded by the bright sun light streaming in through the holographic forward view ports. The Phantom surged over the clouds as the group was silent. Something had fallen over them when they left the city, not the fact that the Covenant might be gone, but that two of their closest friends were now to far gone to come back.

"Hey look, I see it," Chris said, pointing ahead. Up in the distance was a monstrous purple craft hovering in the sky, "Nice flying Will." Will wasn't listening as he opened up the Spartan roster. He found John-117 and stared at it for the longest time. Instead of the mandatory MIA, he listed it as AWAL and put in a note:

_Has fallen into the hands of the enemy and is now a traitor._

He scrolled down to Kelly and looked at hers for the same amount of time before putting in AWAL as well, listing her as an accomplice to the Chief.

"No, don't, give them some dignity. They deserve it," Linda said as she put a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her but said nothing.

"I won't give him that honor," Will stood up and walked to the rear of the Phantom and then turned around, "He won't get away with what he did! He was the reason that Fred isn't here now and I will not stand for that! You don't know what he said to me it-," he suddenly stopped as a tingling feeling surged through his veins. His mind started to go blank but he resisted. Suddenly the Chief's words rushed back into his mind.

_We are the most powerful soldiers in the galaxy._

Authors Note: Well, that's the end, I know that it's not that great but there is going to be a sequel soon and it should finish the story, so look for it soon. Then again I might edit this story and add more so keep an eye on it. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it.


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